


A new world

by Rose_lily_sunflowers



Series: Play it backwards (reverse Robins) [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian Wayne is Robin, Damian Wayne-centric, Duke Thomas is Signal, Gen, Gotham Academy, Gotham City - Freeform, Metahuman Duke Thomas, Mute Cassandra Cain, One Big Happy Family, Protective Bruce Wayne, Reverse Robins, Sad and Happy, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28525329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_lily_sunflowers/pseuds/Rose_lily_sunflowers
Summary: Bruce Wayne had no children. Also, He had no intention of having children…That is until Talia kidnaps Bruce and informs him they have a child together.Damian never wished to come to gotham and he certainly didn't imagine having this many friend-- companions.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Damian Wayne & Colin Wilkes, Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne
Series: Play it backwards (reverse Robins) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093172
Comments: 23
Kudos: 93





	1. Damian comes home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone!
> 
> Ok, weve done much better than 2020 up to this point, stay optimistic people!
> 
> Anyway, I was thinking of a Robin reversal AU instead of studying a few days ago I kinda fell into it's trap. Wish me luck!
> 
> Hope you enjoy💜

It all started when the famous Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne had to babysit his godson.

More than 30 years of life, Billionaire at day, Vigilante Batman at night and none of that training could ever possibly prepare him for the horror That was babysitting a homesick half-kryptonian.

Jon Kent flew around the manor with tremendous speed, that Bruce never even hoped to catch up on, running around and throwing expensive vases and breaking them, even running head first into his precious family paintings a few times.

Bruce tried, however, to stop him from ruining more of the ancient manors structure.

Jon eventually tired himself out.

He passed out on Bruce's arms and they eventually settled on an armchair. Bruce slowly back and forth in a vain hope of keeping the hyperactive 5 year-old sleeping in his arms until his parents returned. Not daring to move an extra muscle.

Bruce would rather walk through fire than admit that he liked the sensation of the sleeping boy in his arms. Which made him second guess most of his life choices.

"Uncle Bruce?" Jon growned, slowly waking up. He blinked a few times and Bruce started to hope he'd fall back asleep... But he didn't. Jon yawned and stretched himself, a smile settled on his face. "Can I ask you a question?"Jon murmured, Gripping the side of Batman's hair, almost pulling the hair out.

"What is it?" Bruce whispered softly, not wanting Jon to snap back to his hyperactive self.

Jon's eyes glow with curiosity. "Why do you live alone?" Jon asked innocently, letting go of his hair when he realised his grip was infecting pain. "Why don't you get married and have kids?"

That was the question Alfred asked Bruce a thousand times a day.

Bruce knew that even if he wanted, the chances of that happening were slim now. At this point, with the reputation Bruce has made for himself he doubted any self respecting woman would approach him unless he grew out of the playboy persona he made for himself.

The closest he ever came to falling in love was with Selina, and it ended in disaster, just like everything in Bruce's life did.

And then there was Talia.

Bruce refused to think about that night in the cold of the deserts night, the beautifully decorated camp and--

Bruce chuckled. "And risk having a trouble maker like you?" Bruce said with a knowing smile. "Not a chance." he stood up and left Jon in the air, trusting him to levitate himself high on the ground.

Jon moved his hands in the air. "But this manor is so big and booooring!" Jon nagged. "What will you do when you're old and cranky? What will happen to all this stuff after you?"

Bruce shrugged. "Well. We'll find out eventually." He said confidently.

Desperate to keep Jon from flying around in the house and unintentionally destroy more of his belongings. Bruce smiled fondly at the young boy. "Do you have a favorite _Batman_ story?" he asked.

Jons wide eyed was fixed on Bruce's. "Kids have favorite Batman stories?" he murmured softly.

"Of course." Bruce lied. "Well, kids of Gotham do at least." another lie. People barely know Batman stories. Bruce made sure only Alfred and Bruce's diaries knew about his Batman adventures.

Jon hummed thoughtfully. "Can you tell me the time you met dad?" He asked with the bluest eyes in the galaxy.

Bruce chuckled. "Of course." he murmured. Jons face pulled into a grin and Bruce decided that, this once, he was going to alter his story to make himself look cooler. "So, I had the reports of a human with inhuman strength in metropolis, so naturally I had to look it up."

Jon was completely mesmerized by the story, giggling at Bruce's every joke and believing all of the half truths Bruce gave him.

On the other side of the walls, Alfred stood in the doorway, watching the two with a rare smile on his face. "Ah, Bruce" he murmured. "If only you had a child, you'd have been a magnificent father."

============

Bruce was too tired to even struggle against the man-bats flying him away from Gotham Ducks.

He was fighting against the Gotham mob boss, the battle had been a gun bust and Batman was more than happy to destroy the container of newly made illegal guns.

That was, until two manbats attacked him from nowhere, pushing their monstrous black claws into his back and lifting him up by surprise. The darkness of the night was on their side. Batman tried to flee but with his new injury and the other manbat that appeared out of nowhere, he was unprepared.

Each of the two manbats grabbed one of his arms, careful not to rip off completely, and pulled him to the skies, taking him with a loud "skree" that barely anyone could hear.

Batman could feel blood slowly falling from the bruises on his back. The blood loss slowly started to take effect and Batman struggled to keep his eyes open. The world slowly dissolved into a black screen and Batman relied on his extensive training to stay conscious enough to know where they are taking him.

He only knew he landed. He knew they were somewhere like a throne room with two other people inside. One a grown woman and another one a child.

It took the boy holding a sword to his sword for his tired mind to acknowledge his presence.

"Father." he sneered, pressing the sword a little bit closer and Batman's eyes widened from sheer force of adrenaline. "I imagined you _taller_."

The world slowly started to settle in. The first response in Bruce's mind was that it's a lie, a deceit, a new game. But as his eyes slowly drank in the visual of the boy, his sharp chin, his eyebrows, his hair... That he started to doubt.

This boy looked like a carbon copy of himself with tanned skin and jade green eyes just like Talia's.

There wasn't any room for doubt really.

Damian Al ghul.

Or well, Damian _Wayne_. As it should be.

Or At least Damian Al ghul- _Wayne_.

============

Before he knew it, he was watching Talia ship leave the ducks, going so far away and deep down, Batman was very glad Talia was going far _far_ away.

"There was a breach in our security." Talia explained once he was well enough. "Damian is no longer safe here. I require you to take care of him until I manage the league."

And with that and the most "get lost" attitude possible, they left Gotham.

Which... Gave Bruce a small problem the size of a small sword wielding ten year-old with the most crumbled face and offensive stance he'd ever seen on a child.

The moment the ship was out of sight. Damian started his demands. "I'll drive." he stated without taking his eyes off the horizon, mouth in a thin line and a frown settled neatly in place.

A ten year old?

Driving?

"No." Bruce said simply, walking to the car and opened the passenger's seat for his guest to walk in.

"I know how." Damian stated. Crossing his arms and standing at the door, refusing to sit in the passenger's seat.

Batman bit back a long sigh. This was going to be a long night. He lifted his hands to his communicator. "Alfred... We'll have a visitor." he said nonchalantly.

"... Acknowledged... I'll have the guest room ready." Alfred answered.

Batman turned to the boy. "Lets go." He demanded. "I'm not debating you in this."

Damian growled and something in that angry voice was extremely offensive and familiar in it. Damian sat down with no fuss and Batman thankfully drove home.

============

Bruce realised at the first sight that Damian was going to make this stay as much hell as he possibly could.

First he insulted Alfred. Then the batcave and then continued to brag every time his grandfather won Batman in a fight and even broke one Batman's new still-in-testing batarangs just to prove how ridiculous they were.

Alfred finally decided to step in and moved Damian to the manor to show him his room. Damian aimed a string of sarcasm at him, No doubt.

Batman finally had the opportunity to sit down and pull down his cowl. As the rough fabric slowly tore away from his face and his tired eyes could see the world with no barriers, his mind slowly registered what had happened.

He had a child. He had a ten year old boy of his blood, his product and his responsibility.

And Talia had kept him cruelly in the dark.

Bruce punched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He could still see Damians face in his mind, almost an exact replica of his face. Clearly Bruce's son.

Bruce didn't have any more time to resign in self pity because the computer announced an incoming call. Rapidly, Bruce pulled on the cowl and answered the call.

"What?" he spat even before the communication was established. His voice filled with more venom than usual and the table was bending under his hand.

Diana the wonder woman's face appeared on the screen. "Batman." she said with a nod. "I wanted your council regarding the league's Meeting today."

Oh, the meeting.

Batman growled under his breath. He glanced at the other screen that had security feeds of the Manor. Damian was in his room, obviously, because the cameras were jammed and Bruce had no photage. "Cancel the meeting. I can't attend." Batman said simply.

Diana raised an eyebrow. "You... Can't attend?" she murmured, leaning closer. "And why can't the dark knight attend?"

Bruce wanted to roll his eyes. "I have more pressing matters." he said through gritted teeth.

Diana hummed. "Fine, very well." she murmured. "I'll delay the meeting for the next 24 hours."

==========

When Bruce opened his eyes, it was a sunny sunday morning. The rays of sunlight danced in the room and gently woke him.

Bruce yawned and left his bed, his morning routine went with no problems and he was down at the breakfast table right on time, 7 am sharp. His newspaper and his favorite breakfast was on the table.

Bruce sat down and opened the newspaper, Gotham was expecting the new year festivities soon and from the looks of it, also a thunderstorm.

Bruce had to get his Winter Batman costume out from the attic or freeze to death.

"Morning master Bruce." Alfred said, Bruce could see him put a large amount of pancakes on the table.

"Good morning, alfred." Bruce murmured. He took a sip of his coffee and put the newspaper aside, there wasn't anything that needed his attention at the moment, so he could enjoy the delicious pancakes Alfred had made.

He was about to take the first bite when he realised there was another plate ready on the table.

Hold on.

His eyes widened and he turned to see Alfred. "Where is... Ah... Daniel?.. No no, _Damian_? Where is Damian?" he asked worriedly.

Alfred raised an eyebrow and pointed at the large windows, where he could see the gardens.

As if waiting for a queue, one of the bushes in the shape of an elephant head fell down with a loud thud sound, only for Damian to land gracefully next to it.

Bruce let out a sigh and leaned back on his chair. Damian was out and slicing more of Alfred's gardens in a matter of seconds.

"He's been up since 5 am. Ruining my garden." Alfred said as a matter of fact.

Bruce wiped the sides of his mouth with a tissue, not hungry anymore. "We'll think of something." he assured Alfred.

Damian could no longer be seen from the window.

==========

Batman was a crucial member of the Justice league and he couldn't postpone their weekly meetings forever. No matter how much he dreaded leaving Damian alone in the manor with Alfred after the boy sneaked out and almost killed one of the "traitors to the house of Al ghul."

And Aquaman was wasting his time with pointless banter.

The moment Aquaman finished, he stood up to leave. "I don't have time." he said and turned away to move but Hal's sarcastic comment stopped him.

"What's the hurry?" the green lantern asked with a rush.

"Yeah, you couldn't come yesterday too." Flash said.

Batman turned back to glare at the other league members. The table was full of heroes, from all sizes and colors. "I have more pressing matters." he said and stormed out.

He didn't know what happened when he left the room, they most likely continued with their recent gathering. Batman went his way back to the teleporters and entered the codes for the batcave.

"You know, Batman, you can come for us for help if you need it."

Batman growled and he turned around to see his most trusted companions in the room. Superman and Wonder Woman exchange a look when they say the typical frown on Batman's face.

"If you need help--"

"I don't." Batman growled. "It's a matter of... Family."

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Has something befallen on Alfred?" she asked.

Batman shook his head and He sighed loudly. "I've recently learned I have a child." Batman said and pressed his mouth to a thin line.

Silence fell on the trinity. Superman's mouth dropped and he was stunned into silence. Diana looked up with a hesitant smile. "Congratulations. I was starting to doubt your are capable of having a child with that stone heart of yours." she said hesitantly. "Is it a Girl?"

Batman sighed. Good, worse questions could have been asked.

"No." Batman said. "It's a boy."

"Shame." Wonder woman murmured. "Either way, I hoped you'd throw a ceremony for your son."

Batman nodded. "I most likely will." he confirmed. It's not like he was going to let Talia get his son back.

Diana crossed her arms. "Then I'll be waiting for the invitation." she said a smile and a wink at Superman. "Gentlemen." and she was gone.

But superman wasn't. He came closer right before Batman finished the codes. "If you need any advice, me and Lois can share some of our wise methods." Superman said with a crooked smile.

Bruce growled, stepping into the teleporters and giving Superman a tired glare. All that left Batman was a half hearted "Shut up, Kent."

===========

Damian sneaked inside Bruce Wayne's office easier than a child's room.

And they call that maximum _security_.

The office was superb, red carpeted and enormous windows painted it's walls, giving it a unique view of Gotham skyline.

Damian sat down on the office chair and resisted the urge to spin around it.

There was a slim computer on the table and for his plans to work, Damian had to get access to it, not that it was hard. Damians hovered his hands above the keyboards with a smile. "Tt"

He should have just accessed the database related to his fathers Batman persona but the curiosity got the better of him, the pull to see his fathers work was so strong.

Maybe... Maybe he could get to know the man this way.

There were sounds of footsteps in the near hallways. And his Father was putting every single one of his secretaries' words.

The doors opened with a "thud" and Damians eyes landed on other people. "Tt. You have to pay more attention to your company." Damian said with a smirk, turning around the screen so that his father could see it as well. "Your sales are down in Argentina."

"Hey! That's from my report!" one of the men behind Bruce shouted.

His father growled, pushed everyone out and shut the door. He straightened up and turned around to glare at Damian with his blue eyes.

Damian hummed and turned off the computer. "Tt. I suppose you are... disappointed?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.

Brucea glare didn't stutter. "What are you looking for?" he asked.

Damian shook his head and walked to his father. "Tt. Traitors of course, what else."

"Stop it."

Damian's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms. "They are threatening Grandfather, they have to pay!" he said loudly.

"With their lives? We don't kill." Bruce states firmly, with confidence that Damian quickly realised he couldn't match.

"You can't magically confine them, Father." Damian spat.

"Justice, not vengeance" Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ra's is a madman! And one day you'll see that." he said. "I told you to get ready for the party tonight."

Damian rolled his eyes. "I need to find the traitors whereabouts." he stated angrily, pointing at Bruce's chest with his fingers. "This is wasting my time."

Bruce crossed his arms. "I said you go back to the manor, and that's it." he ordered.

"Tt. I don't need a baby shower." Damian shouted.

Bruce completely ignored him. He reached out for the phone and called the Secretary for a ride. Bruce was persistent. His Father wasn't going to let him live this down.

The driver wasn't Alfred, so Father was much harsher to the man than normal when he put Damian inside. "Straight to the Manor, no stops." he ordered.

But before his Father shut the door. He took a deep breath and looked down at Damian who was glaring madly at him. "Damian. This isn't a baby shower, this is merely introducing you to the world as my child." Bruce said and fixed his tie.

Damian scuffed. "I hope you don't live to regret it." he murmured to himself. Thinking his father wouldn't hear it.

Bruce's sharp senses picked it however, "pardon?"

"Tt. Nothing." Damian said quickly. He reached out for the door handle and shut the door. The car was driving far away in an instant.

============

If he wasn't the main focus of the event, Damian would have sneaked out hours ago.

He would have sneaked out and ran away and lived in the mountains with a dog. Because if one other lady pinched his cheek and called him a "ladykiller in the making", he'd lose his tight control and maim somebody.

Wayne manors party room was filled with guests. Most of them Bruce business partners and other Gotham elites but every once in a while, Damian came across a few familiar faces.

Faces he'd seen in grandfather's files, heroes.

Like that reporter that was obviously superman with a pair of glasses or the woman with long black hair that was Wonder woman with no difference in appearance.

Damian was surprised that his father was willing to introduce him to his fellow superheroes. Maybe this wasn't so temporary for father after all.

Damian killed the hope that was rising in his chest, it was impossible, he had no use for father, father would be more than happy to give him back to mother.

When his father was busy to other businessmen, Damian called it a night. Would they even notice he was gone?

He found his way to the roof of wayne manor like the ninja he was and sat on the cold hard substance. The roof was a magnificent place, not only the darkness and silence was welcome, but also if people started shouting he'd hear them.

And the moonlight was something that hadn't changed. Back from the league the moon was the only welcome thing in his life, after long long hours of training, his exhausted body would fall to the ground and the only view he had from the confinement of his room was the moon.

And tonight the moon was full.

'Beautiful' Damian murmured softly, drawing his knees closer to his chest and resting his chin on them.

The only sound that he could hear was the soft breeze and the dancing of the leaves in the manors gardens. It was safe. Damian closed his eyes and let the welcome sounds touch his ears.

"Hi!"

Damian jumped up into a fighting stance, the knife he smuggled into his suit in hand and ready to attack the intruder.

He didn't drop his stance when he saw the intruder was a boy about his age, a little younger. Black hair, blue eyes and a baby face that closely resembled Superman's which was probably the reason he was hovering above the ground.

He slowly lowered himself and stood next to Damian with a small wave. "Hi! You must be Uncle Bruce's kid." The boy murmured and offered a hand, holding it slightly higher than where he should and giving Damian a crooked smile. "I thought I'll find you at the party... I didn't."

Damian's frown didn't drop, he didn't answer or shake this boy's hands.

He was thinking about the fastest way to fight or flight because this introduction couldn't be friendly in his mind.

"I'm Jon." the boy said with a smile. Then he looked around for eavesdroppers before leaning down to whisper in his ears. Damian almost broke the boy's neck because he dared to get close.

However, Jon just leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "I'm Superman's son." he explained. And leaned back with a soft smile. "Superboy if I ever get my feet out of the house."

Silence settled between them. The dance of wind in the leaves was the only sound between them as Damian started to drop his fighting stance and stood normally in front of the other boy. Something about those soft blue eyes were enchanting and told Damian to trust Jon. After all, Jon could have killed him a long time ago if he wanted to.

"What's your codename?" Jon asked curiously, tilting his head a little.

Damian opened his mouth for the first time that night. "I don't have an alter ego." Damian stated simply, eyes lost in the boys blue eyes.

"Come on, you mean you have never even thought about it?"

"No."

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"No."

Jon gave it anyway, he massages the sides of his face as a manner of thinking. "Maybe Robin, like robin hood?" he offered.

Damian growled. "I haven't chosen a code name yet." he repeated, neither confirming nor denying.

Jon shrugged and sat down on the roof, his eyes focused on far beyond the mountains and jungles in front of them. "You have to choose, One day." Jon said with raw burning hope in his voice.

A few minutes passed and Damian was frozen on spot, glaring at Jon. Not because he wanted him gone but because this was the first time Damian was ever alone with someone his age.

Not the first time exactly, the first time the poor girl was his target and she didn't survive the night.

But...

What should Damian do?

What would a ten year old do with another boy on the roof?

Enjoy the moon?

Damian soon realised he had no clue.

So he just mimicked Jon and sat down next to him. He knew Jon was seeing more than he was. Could he see beyond the jungles? Could Jon hear what was happening beyond Gothams skyline?

"What's your name?" Jon asked.

Damian never told him did he?

"Damian Al ghul." he said shortly.

Jon turned his head back to Damian. His mouth dropped. "Oh..." left his mouth. "So that's why Dad was so hesitant to bring me here! Your granddad is Ra's al ghul!"

Damian frowned at him.

"Are you a ninja?" Jon asked.

Damian pulled his knees to his chest and said nothing.

"It's totally cool if you are." Jon pointed out. "Batman gave me a few self defense classes and said I can be a certificated Ninja one day."

Damian's eyes widened. His father had really said that? But why would Jon need such training. Wasn't he the son of superman?

"You don't talk do you?" Jon asked, resting his head on his knees.

Damian narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to object but another person beat him to it.

"Jon!"

Jon looked back and his half hearted smile dropped. His eyes fell to the lower floors. "That's my mom." he murmured. "It was nice to meet you, Damian."

Damian just growled.

Jon rolled his eyes. "If I doubted you were really Batman's son... I'm sure now." he murmured and jumped down.

Damian leaned down to see the lower floors better, Jon landed gracefully and found his way back to the party without anyone seeing him.

===========

Four men were in front of Damian.

Well not themselves, their pictures.

Father didn't go for it for mother, no. This was a separate case that somehow got connected to the new threat on the house of Al ghul.

Four people.

Father turned around from his chair to look at Damians calculating green eyes. "Do you know them?" he asked simply.

"Tt. I know these people. I used to train with them as a child." Damian said as a matter of fact.

Bruce's eyes went wide, then gripped the side of the chair tightly. "These are... There are convicted abusers. What were they doing in the league?" he said through gritted teeth.

The only light in the dark cave was the computer, on the other side the bats screeched and filled in the silence that was left without Damians answer.

Father narrowed his eyes."And what were those trainings?" Bruce asked hesitantly, every word came out slow and careful.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "Swordsmanship, gymnastics, Rock climbing." He went on, his hand went over a blonde person's face, "I broke my hand the first time I trained with him."

Father blinked for a few times before he turned his eyes back on the computer, glaring and muttering soundlessly under his breath without saying anything to Damian.

He typed in the new information and never let Damian know what it was.

Silence treatment, Damian could deal with that, he's dealt with far worse.

Suddenly his father stopped. His hands rested on the table and his eyes fixed on the blank screen before he reached down and picked up a metallic case.

Damian raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't ask.

His father put it in front of Damian and it opened with a hiss. Father drew his hand back and didn't open the case.

Damian narrowed his eyes and did what it was expected of him. He was surprised to see that the case had a folded smaller replica of Batman training costume in it.

He couldn't believe his eyes for a moment.

He thought his father wanted him out of his vigilante life.

Was this an invitation?

Father stood up and made his way to the batmobile. "Suit up." he demanded with a smile, pulling his cowl back on.

Damian smirked and picked up the case, running after his father to the batmobile.

And into the night.

============

"Jim." Batman said, appearing right behind commissioner Gordon.

He jumped, his hands on his gun, ready to shoot but he lowered it the moment he saw Batman's dark figure. "Batman," he acknowledged with a nod.

"What do you have?" Batman asked, gently turning off the bat-Signal on the roof.

Jim nodded. "The men you wanted to look up to, two of them. Freddie Lloyd and Ubo were spotted on the---" Jim suddenly narrowed his eyes, pulled out his gun and aimed at the shadows. "COME TO THE LIGHT, HANDS IN THE AIR NOW!"

"Tt." Damian sneered and stepped into the light. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms even if a gun was being shown on His face. "That gun poses no threat to me."

"It's ok Jim." Batman said and lowered Jims gun. "He's my partner." he added with his usual raspy voice. It earned a raised eyebrow from Gordon.

Gordon never took his eyes off the new boy. He hesitantly put his Gun back. Damian was,frankly, surprised that the old commissioner spotted him.

Gordon put his hands in his pocket. "You know this is child endangerment, right batman?"

"Gotham never allowed any of us to be a child."

Gordon hummed. He picked out a full case from it and slowly handed it to batman. "What you need is in this file, Just make sure he doesn't fall directly into the line of fire." he murmured.

Batman opened the folder and hummed. "I will." he murmured and flipped the page.

Damian growled. "Im perfectly capable of taking care of myself." he said, stomping his feet and giving the other man a glare.

"You know nothing kid, this is Gotham." Gordon pointed out with a frown.

Damian wanted to retaliate with a snarky comment until he remembered his fathers file on the commissioner said he was expecting a girl in a few days. Damian stepped back, not wanting to go on the new fathers nerves.

Gordon raised an eyebrow again at him and crossed his arms. "Anyways, kid, what should we call in the hopefully short time you'll be running vigilante?"

That... Was a very good question.

_"You'll have to choose, one day"_

Jon Kents words echoed in his mind. Damian's mind had been looking back on that useless conversation for a while now, taking up even more of his precious time. But there was a suggestion in it. Jon Kent might not have been completely useless.

"Robin." Damian said proudly. "Call me robin."

And thus, Robin's legend was born.

_***Next chapter:** _

_**-"Im not going to an American school!"** _

_**-The Ginger boys horrified eyes darted around, checking every corner. "We have to get out of here before they come." he murmured.** _

_**-The boy completely ignored his statement. He looked up at Damian with a welcome smile as if he'd seen an old friend. "Where are my manners? I'm Colin Wilkes," he said confidently with his arms still two piles of shapeless clay. "and you are?"** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudos or a comment to fuel the poor author! Thanks💜 
> 
> Also, Tim will make a guest appearance next chapter. Steph, Duke and Cass are going to be a part of this story.


	2. Runaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After almost three years, Bruce insists Damian should start going to school and make a life for himself.
> 
> Damian disagrees, he leaves the house for a few hours in the heist of Kidnappings just to evade signing into school and runs into unlikely people.

"I'm not going to an American school."

Damian promised himself that.

Going to school and being a kid was never a part of the deal. No matter how much Father insisted or Alfred side eyed him Damian promised himself he wouldn't step foot in Gotham academy. He was homeschooled since birth and that wasn't going to change when he's 15.

"You've just turned fourteen Damian!" Father would point out angrily.

He wasn't supposed to even stay here. Even if Damians heart clutched at the thought of leaving his new home and going back to the league.

After a whole three year.

Damian knew their work was a slow process in the league… But he was slowly starting to think his mother would never show up to take him away. Was that because she was disappointed? What did Damian do to make her disappointed?

This was temporary, Damian thought his father would be more than happy to keep him far away.

Still, he didn't want to go to school and he'd do anything in his power to stop the procedure. If that entailed running out of the house in the dark and going missing for an entire day and a half, so be it.

He wore his robin uniform and pulled his favorite red hoodie on it and his masks in a pocket, he could easily be passed as a normal teenager.

There was a recent wave of child kidnapping in Gotham with no possible suspects and none of the children were ever seen again. But he was robin. He could take care of himself.

Damian opened the window of his room and pulled the hoodie to cover his head, and ran until he was out of Wayne Manor grounds. He knew the silent alarms were on the moment his foot left the mansion, but he didn't care.

Damian would be back in only 36 hours. Until the time was up and his father couldn't sign him up in Gotham academy anymore.

Damian's journey started from the clean streets of high class spaces, to the busy downtown and all the way to the silent ducks where crime roamed.

Damian decided to stop in the Docks and pull down his hoodie for the first time that night. The cool wind was welcome on his skin and the sight of waters soothed down his rapidly beating heart. The duck was cold and the only source of light was the singular working light bulb.

Damian held his head high as he passed the ducks, this wasn't a safe place to stay for the night no matter how much Damian wanted to proud himself in beating up potential robbers.

"Hand over your wallet."

Say Devil, Devil comes.

The mugger was right behind him, Damian could see his shadow on the ground. The rubber was holding a knife to his direction. Not a gun. He could take this guy.

But that would get other attention and the last thing he needs is for Batman to start following him.

So he ran.

He ran into the narrow streets where he was sure no camera could detect him and the Mugger came cursing after him.

After he was sure no one in the damp and dark streets could see them, Damian wanted to take out his ninja stars and aim it at the wannabe attackers. It would be swift and easy. He'd be gone long before they are dead. But Someone pulled him into the space between the walls and pressed him close, covering his mouth. "Stay still." the boyish voice demanded.

Damian wanted to break his grip but he soon realised his captor was immensely strong. His hands were small, not much bigger than his own, but Damian couldn't struggle away. Damian saw the shadows of his followers. It quickly passed and their footsteps dissolved into nothing.

Then the other let Damian go.

Damian stood his battle stance immediately, ready to glare at the big strong captor that was holding him a few moments prior.

He was surprised to see he was just another ginger haired boy. Green eyes softened as he met scared brown ones. Colin held his hand up and gently took a step towards him. "Easy there." the ginger murmured. "I'm not with them."

Damian didn't drop his battle stance, he brushed off the momentary confusion and gave the ginger boy a batglare. "Tt. Obviously." he growled.

The Ginger boys horrified eyes darted around, checking every corner. "We have to get out of here before they come." he murmured.

"Who are they?" Damian insisted.

Suddenly the gingers eyes widened and his face grew emotionless in an instant. His brown eyes seemed to be focused somewhere behind Damian where he could hear a gun crackle.

"That would be us." An old man said. Damian could hear another younger one chuckling behind him. "I was here for you" Ginger boy but it seems like we'll have two meta kids tonight."

Damian's eyes narrowed. Before he could spiral into action and disarm them on the spot, a question started to cloud his mind. There were no metas in Gotham, not one that He didn't know anyway and the Ginger boy definitely wasn't on the Batcaves 'lost children list'.

"Don't panic." the ginger boy said calmly.

Damian raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Who said I will." he murmured.

Something deep changed in the brown of the boy's eyes.

Before Damian had to engage, the ginger boy's arm turned into clay, in two angry movements and a heart wrenching scream from the boy, one attacker was glued to the walls with brown clay.

Damian didn't think, he attacked the other one. The younger man had a knife that managed to slice only once before Damian had sent the knife flying away and the man himself was unconscious on the ground.

The Ginger boy grabbed his elbow with two piles of clay instead of hands and pulled him to run. "Lets go!" he shouted, dragging Damian behind him.

And Damian decided to follow.

As they ran through the silent streets of Gotham, Damian knew why the boy was strong; he was a meta, a shapeshifter like Clayface.

The sound of their footsteps echoed all around them, The other boys breathing quickly became ragged Damian pulled him into a narrow alley and looked around to declare it safe to stay for a while.

"Did we lose them?" The other boy asked hopefully, looking up with vibrant brown eyes. Damian's green eyes narrowed and he nodded.

"For now yes." Damian declared and crossed his arms. "Why were they after you?"

Colin shrugged. He held his caly hands in front of him and watched it helplessly as the live clay changed and molded. His arms were completely clay from elbow down. It changed, molded and shifted.

But it never took the shape of a hand.

"I Don't know. They have been following me ever since... This." Colin murmured and held up his caly hands for Damian to see. "Sorry... It gets out of control sometimes." Colin said breathlessly, trying to keep his balance, his arms still two large pieces of Clay.

"Meta human trafficking" Damian murmueed slightly as his eyes widened. "That's why.... They want to study your powers."

The boy completely ignored his statement. He looked up at Damian with a welcome smile as if he'd seen an old friend. "Where are my manners? I'm Colin Wilkes," he said confidently with his arms still two piles of clay. "and you are?"

Damian's eyes narrowed. "Damian Al--" the words died in Damian throat. He gathered himself and continued"- _Wayne_."

"Nice to meet you, Damian Alwein. I would have offered a hand but..." Colin trailed off, holding up his right hand that was slowly turning humanoid but it was still clearly of Clay.

"Damian _W_ _ayne_." Damian corrected.

Colin blinked for a moment. "Wayne??"

"Yes."

"As in--"

" _Yes_."

"Wayne foundation--"

" _Yes_."

Colin was taken aback for a moment. His clay morphed back into bare arms and his sleeves slid down, completely human once again.

Damian was, frankly, impressed.

Colin however, was stunned beyond words. "What is the new son of Bruce Wayne doing here?" Colin asked. "And why are you wearing Robin's costume?"

Damian froze, he looked down at his tattered hoodie just to see his favorite hoodie now had a hole in the size of his hand.

And the R was clearly visible.

Damian grunted. He angrily grabbed the side of his hoodie and tried to cover it. "I can't explain it here." Damian murmured and narrowed his eyes.

Colin didn't look away. "I... I'll pretend I never saw anything... You can go back home."

Damian narrowed his eyes further at the boy. "I... I can't go back either." he stated.

Colin raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Damian pulled his jacket closer to himself when a soft breeze came, stealing the warmth away from him. "I don't want to be with my father right now." he explained to Colin.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Colin asked seriously.

Damian took a deep breath and shook his head a little, not meeting Colins eyes.

Colin inched closer, his hand hovering above Damians shoulder until he touched it. Damian dodged away and glared at Colin once again.

Colin swallowed. "If you wanna hide I can get you to my hideout..." Colin offered. "The kidnappers never caught me in it."

Damian opened his mouth to refuse his generous offer but he froze mid speech, he couldn't go back and he couldn't stay in the streets either. "That would be... Kind of you." he said instead.

Besides, he could get to the bottom of this meta-human trafficking case.

============

Colins hideout was a small abandoned shop at the end of 14th street. A street with no lights or residents. It was clear Damian wanted to make a happy place for himself, the small shop had a makeshift bed and the walls were covered with colorful posters. A small coffee table was on the other side with a small ice-chest.

"Welcome to Avalon!" Colin cheered and locked the door behind them. "I spend most of my time here when I'm out of the Orphanage."

Colin went to the ice-chest and opened it slightly, a smile formed on his face when he took out two bars of chocolate. He handed the red one to Damian and kept the blue one to himself. "I know it's not what you're used to but you can stay here as long as you like."

Only 12 more hours.

Damian was suspicious at the way Colin was showing his hospitality but he wasn't going to ruin his luck. He gave Colin the best smile he could. "I believe it's charming." he said the truth.

The smile on Colins face was reflected even in his brown eyes. He pulled Damian down so they can sit on the bed and enjoy the tasty chocolate that Colin said a young lady gives him every once in a while.

Colin talked about everything and nothing, about how his favorite streets in Gotham, about the chocolate maker lady living near Crime alley. About the Wayne foundation. But he obviously evaded certain topics like his own life.

Damian decided that he liked this. He liked the taste of the chocolate in his mouth, he liked the way Colin cheered at every thing that made him happy and he certainly liked the small shop that Colin had made as a home for himself.

He even caught himself actually laughing.

However Damians mind was clouded with a question. "Don't you want to ask why I am running?" he asked curiously.

Colin didn't look up from his piece of chocolate bar. "No. I'm sure you have a reason for running from your father." he said. "Most of the kids in the orphanage do."

Damian hummed.

"But you can tell me if you want." Colin murmured, genly putting a hand on his shoulder. "I won't tell a soul."

Damian hummed again, he slowly put his chocolate bar down. "Tt. It's not about father." he confessed. "The way mother raised me... I'm not used to many things and I never want to try... school for example"

Damiam frowned unconsciously, for the first time, he felt like he could trust someone. But his early training was making it hard to spill out his secrets to a boy he just met. Out of frustration, he kept on spilling his secrets.

"She had to leave me in my fathers care and promised to return. My mother is... complicated... She is the daughter of Ra's al ghul and a wanted criminal from Interpol--" Damian stopped himself mid speech. He turned his head to face Colin.

"Why don't _you_ talk about your life."

Colin smiled and shook his head. He gently wrapped the chocolate back and put it on the bed. Brown eyes met green. "Oh, nothing special here." Colin chuckled. "I never met my mom and dad... I live in Saint Thomas orphanage and nobody knows about these powers. I try to hide it from the nuns... but whenever I get too excited, they kick in."

"Can you control it?"

Colin shook his head. He lifted his left hand, the one closer to Damian and closed his eyes. The hand turned to clay right in front of Damian and it took the shape of a hammer. Colin opened his eyes with a smile. "It's easy when I'm not excited." he stated. His hand turned into a sword and then something like a ninja star. The clay hardened and Colin broke it off his arm like it was nothing.

Damian's eyes widened. Colin put the ninja star into Damians hands and closed his fingers around it. "Throw it." Colin whispered. Damian raised an eyebrow but did what he was asked of, the ninja star was thrown at a poster and it stuck there like a real star would.

To say Damian was impressed was a vast underestimation. He looked at Colin with glinting eyes. "Can you shapeshift as well?" he asked.

Colins smile fell. "Not really but..." he let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. Damian wanted to jump back when Colins face turned unto clay and morphed back into a tanned skin a moment later. His red hair was now black and when he opened his eyes, his eyes were green.

Damian's eyes widened. He was looking at a cheap copy of himself but even that was impressive. Tanned skin was just on point, unlike the brightened photoshopped pictures of himself on most media, and his eyes were a slightly darker shade of green. Damian's hand reached up to touch Colins without Damians consent. He drew his hand back the moment his fingers touched his soft tanned skin.

Colin immediately morphed back to Colin. And forced a smile on his face. "Yeah." he breathed out.

"That was impressive." Damian admitted and Colins brown eyes lit up. "Really?" he asked.

Damian hummed. "Tt. Of course no one can impersonate me but... It was acceptable." he admitted.

Colin smiled, the tips of his fingers morphed so little and he quickly got them back under Control. Damian hummed thoughtfully, if a simple phrase could make him so emotional that he'd lost control... Hiding those powers must be very hard.

Damian wanted to point it out before Colin suddenly froze, his smile fell and his eyes glued to the ground. "When are you going back?." Colin whispered, eyes not looking at Damians.

Damian froze on spot.

The words echoed in his mind. Such a clear question had no right answer after all. the chocolate in his mouth suddenly tasteless. "Pardon?" he murmured.

Colins brown eyes looked up at him once again, softer than before. "You said your mom is going to come after you... When?"

The question struck Damian into silence.

The answers that his mind provided were not interesting.

And that forced Damian to admit something crucial for the first time. "I... I don't want to return to the league." he said, when the words came out he felt like the weight of the entire world was off his shoulders. "I enjoy this life... I do not wish to return to the league." Damian admitted once again. "Even If I still don't know my father, I know what life should feel like. And my life at the league of shadows was no life."

When Damians green eyes focused on Colin, he saw his friend had a hopeful smile.

At Least someone was happy he wanted to stay.

But the logical side of Damians brain betrayed him. Colin didnt know him, he didn't know who the league of shadows was. Damain was starting to dread if the kidnappers were pawns of the league, what would happen if Colin finds out?

If anyone else finds out?

Damian fisted his hands. "But... I have done horrible deeds Colin." Damian murmured, eyes staring into nothing. "This world will never accept me. And I don't deserve to want anything."

Would Colin still sit next to him if he confessed about the time he was forced to kill in cold blood? Would Colin still talk to him if he knew he'd killed orphans without a second thought? Will Colin ever breathe in the same room as him if he knew--

The hand on his shoulder told him otherwise. Colin took him in a one armed hug. "I don't know what you could have possibly done." he murmured softly. "Do you regret it?"

"Yes."

"Will you ever dream of doing it again?"

Damian bit his lips. "No. I won't ever dream of it." he murmured.

Collins hug tightened. "Then you're going to be fine." he assured him.

"You don't know the complications that come with being Batman's partner." Damian almost spat he shivered at the thought of his father disappointed in his actions. "He'll fire me easily with the first mistake."

Colin let go of the hug to look at him in the eyes. "You're right. I don't know many things but I know this." he admitted, face determined to knock some sense. "But I know this. Since you showed up, since _this_ showed up three year ago," Colin said, hitting the R sign on Damian's hidden uniform. "The kids at the orphanage aren't afraid to fight back anymore. They're not afraid to call, shout, act against the injustice and cruelty that falls on us"

Damian felt a warmth start to spread in his chest, welcome and satisfactory. Damian hummed, was that pride?

Colin drew his hand back. "This R... Isn't a restraint." Colin murmured softly. "It stands for Redemption."

Half of Damians face pulled into a smirk.

This boy surely knew what to say and when to say it.

==========

When the 36 hours were up, Damian didn't try to sneak away from Colins hideout. He couldn't, because Colin had managed to go back to his orphanage when Damian had fallen into a deep slumber.

Which was a feat for itself, Damian was impressed, maybe he could use a friend-- companion like him.

Damian's heart skipped a beat, his eyes went wide when he realised his deeply repressed human emotions were coming out for the first time in his life. Did the warmth he had in his chest when he was talking to Colin normal? Was it expected? Should he ever return here?

He wanted to flee instead of answering those questions in his mind but his eyes landed on the makeshift cartoon table in the small hideout. Damian found a chocolate bar lying on a note from Colin. "Your dad is worried." he read out loud and then neatly folded the paper into his pocket.

Damian sighed loudly and stepped out. Faint moonlight touched his skin and he decided to let go of the mind numbing questions until he returned to Wayne Manor.

The streets were dark and damp, it had rained apparently and the roofs were still dripping. Damian froze on the spot when he realised Collins hideout might be flooded with every heavy rain.

Damian bit the sides of his nails and rushed back inside and found a pencil and a piece of paper to write down the manors phone number and with a simple "call me" under it.

He owned Colin this much at least.

And then, Damian stepped out of the hideout. He could deal with the possible damages to this hideout later.

The streets of Gotham were a mess. An absolute mess. The sun was already down and the darkness plagued the streets. Damian narrowed his eyes and kept on walking, making sure his robin costume was covered.

he knew his way back to the manor.

Sometime during this long walk, he heard the scream of a young boy and laughter of a few grown men. All of Damians instincts told him to keep on going and let them be. But Damian acted completely against them.

He changed his way and found the source of the agony.

Two grown men were tossing an expensive looking camera between them and a Small boy was jumping and running between them, trying to catch the camera.

Damian growled under his breath. "Give the camera back." he ordered the two thugs.

They stopped, the larger thug held the camera in his hands. "You want this," he held the camera in the air. "Come and get it."

The little boy froze on spot.

Damian inched closer to the boy until he was in his arms length. "This is your final warning." he hissed. "Give the boy his camera."

The thug smiled.

That was a no then.

Before the thug could open his mouth to give a sarcastic comment, Damian grabbed his hand holding the camera and landed a punch right in the thugs nose, knocking him out.

The thug fell down with a painful grunt and the camera was in Damians hand, safe and sound. The other thug didn't even think, he ran away.

The little boy took a deep breath and Looked up at Damian's hooded figure. "Thank you.." he said slowly.

Damian smiled. "Is this your camera, boy?" Damian asked, handing the shattered and clearly expensive camera back to its owner. "Don't come out alone. Haven't you heard? Children are being kidnapped left and right."

The boy sighed loudly and got it back.

He frantically checked the screen and saw that it was miraculously working. "Thank goodness." the boy murmured and shuffled through his photos to make sure they were still in the shattered camera memory file.

Damian's eyes widened.

Those weren't photos of car races or nature or family events. No one was ever supposed to have the photos the bog had taken.

"Are those photos from... Batman and _Robin_." Damian growled, glaring at the boy.

The little touched the back of his neck and opened his mouth to explain but shut it immediately.

If the boy hadn't seen Damians face, he would have snatched the camera and ran away, so that Batman could remain in the dark but he couldn't.

This boy had seen his face.

There was no reason why Damian Wayne would steal this boy camre. Damian hissed. Why did this boy look so familiar, it's like he'd seen him somewhere. "What's your name?" he ordered.

"Uh... My name is Alvin..."

"Alvin?" Damian repeated. He knew no one by the name Alvin. The familiarity was probably a product of his tired mind. "Get a better job Alvin. No one will believe those photos are actually Batman and Robin. They are more skilled to be caught by an amateur like you."

Alvin pressed his mouth to a thin line, clearly holding back his opinion. Alvin nodded and murmured: "thank you" before he went away, disappearing into the busy streets of Gotham.

===========

Damian sneaked inside the manor, grabbed a book and pretended to be sleeping on the coach the entire time Father was trying to impress his fate with his plans for the future.

Not that it mattered, Damian knew he was probably never going to see her again.

When the time was right, he stretched himself and made a deep sound with his childish voice like he was waking up.

The woman, dressed in a white dress and sapphire blue jewelry, looked at him with a gasp. "Wow, who is this little fellow." she asked, eyeing Bruce with the corner of her eyes.

Damian stood up and hugged the book. "Oh sorry... I was reading and I just..." he murmured. Hanging his head low like a shy teenager would.

Bruce stepped forward with a smile. "this is my son... Damian." Bruce said.

The other woman bent down to pinch his cheek with a smile. Damian gently rubbed the sore spot left because of the pinch.

She opened her mouth to engage another conversation but her phone started to ring, showing the arrival of a very important notification. She looked up. "I have to go." she leaned up to land a kiss on father's cheeks.

Bruce's fake smile fell. "Alfred will show you the way out." he said and nodded at Alfred who appeared out of nowhere. "This way ms." Alfred said politely and the woman followed quickly without glancing back.

And with that, silence settled between father and son.

Damian hugged the book tighter. He eyes his father from the corner of his eyes to see him staring at the door. Damian decided to start the conversation himself. "She was fairly Attractive..." he stated, not intending any double meanings.

"Where were you?"

His Father was serious, he took his eyes off the doors just to give Damian the famous Batglare, a deep frown and mouth pressed to a thin line.

Damian held the book closer to his chest. There were a lot of answers he could give to that question, including but not limited to the truth, but Damian decided to evade answering all together. "I'm sorry about sneaking out the other night, father." he said instead.

Bruce finally took his eyes off the door. "And the night before that?" he asked seriously.

Damian huffed. "Not so much."

Bruce actually chuckled. The closest thing to a laugh Damian had ever seen from a parent during his entire lifetime. Damian's eyes widened and he slowly took a step back.

Bruce's eyes softened and Damian could feel the tension slowly go away. "I have to say, you failed." Bruce informed him. "I told Gotham academy you were sick and they said they can make an exception for you."

Damian's hopes crumbled. His eyes fell closed for a moment and his mind started making new plans right at that moment. "Oh Joy." he muttered loudly.

Again, Bruce smiled. Damian wanted to smack that grin off his face. "I won't go to school." Damian stated.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "That's nothing new," he said.

Damian hugged the book tighter. before he could flee away and start planning, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see his fathers neutral face. "The new cartoon, Cars... I've heard boys your age like it." Father said nonchalantly.

Damian raised an eyebrow. Before he could object to how childish it all was, Bruce had another proposal. "Alfred can make some popcorn for us."

Damian closed his mouth and swallowed all the negative comments that were going to come out of his mouth. Instead he looked up at his father.

"I'm not sharing, I demand my own bowl."

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-Bruce looked up at Alfred with a seemingly neutral face. "Alfred, I think I just found out the best way to send him to school." Bruce said and his face pulled a half smile.** _

_**-"The cave was originally a station for Gotham underground trains that my great-great-grandfather designed." Damian explained. "It was never used so it can be our new hideout." Damian's blood ran cold when he realised he'd said ' our new hideout' instead of 'the new hideout.'** _

_**-"Ace." Damian murmured with a smile. Petting the dog the most gentle way he could. "His name is Ace."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! Please leave a kudos or tell me what you think in the comments.💜
> 
> Tim isn't going to have a huge part in this story, his time will come though.  
> Up next chapter: Ace!


	3. Masked Kidnappers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian gets to spend some time with his first and only friend.

The private phone to Wayne Manor usually never rang.

Because it was specifically designed for family and friends... And Bruce had barely any friends whom he trusted. And those he did trust, preferred to use Justice league communications.

So Imagine Alfreds surprise when the phones started to ring at the same time. The entire manor was filled with all different types of sounds. From artificial chirping birds to metalic beeps.

"Wayne residence, how may I help you?" Alfred said politely on the phone.

The young man on the other side stuttered. "Hey uhm... I'm Colin... Damian's... Well, _friend_." a young boy said from the other side.

Alfreds usually stoic face lit up for a moment before it settled back down to the usual expressionless face. "Are you sure you got the right number, sir?" he asked, an unsettling thought started to set in his mind that this was either a scammer or someone from the league of assassins.

"You said Wayne manor right?"

Alfred narrowed his eyes. "Indeed" he murmured. Doubt turned to certainty as he lowered the phone to end the call. He wanted to alert Bruce when suddenly Damian came running.

Damian jumped, snatching the phone away from Alfred's hands and clinging it closely to his ear. "Colin? Are you still there." he asked.

There was just static.

Damian hurriedly redialled and waited for the other to pick up. One-- two-- three seconds later, Damian hummed as the other boy picked up again.

"Greetings... Colin." Damian said, face completely neutral but his body betrayed his face. He was moving up and down on his heels moments before Colin picked up. "I'm glad you called. I wanted to inform you your hideout is most likely damaged and I wish to help you build a better one."

Damian narrowed his eyes on Alfred and nodded towards the door, silently telling him to leave. "Indeed." Damian said on the phone. His mouth pulled to a smile for a flash before it disappeared.

Alfred raised an eyebrow and went away, leaving Damian alone to chat- Talk with his friend. Damian seems too eager in his conversation to notice Alfred lingered behind the door.

And Bruce was standing there too, just listening with an eyebrow raised to his son who seemed, for the first time in three years, happy to talk to someone. "Is that his... Friend?" Bruce asked when Alfred appeared. "I didn't know he had anyone."

Alfred nodded. "That is most strange, Master Bruce." Alfred whispered slowly so that the others couldn't hear. "It seems like he does have a friend."

Bruce hummed and narrowed his eyes, "Alfred... Who is this friend?" he asked. "Do we have a name?" Bruce drew out his phone from his pocket and connected it to Batcaves Database.

"Colin Wilkes, sir."

Bruce hummed. He quickly typed the name And shuffled through the photos and Data on his phone until he stopped at the name Colin Wilkes. Bruce hesitantly opened it and read through it in an instant.

Bruce Wayne let out a breath when he realised Colin Wilkes had no criminal record.

Bruce looked up at Alfred with a seemingly neutral face. "Alfred, I think I just found out the best way to send him to school." Bruce said and his face pulled a half smile.

==========

"This was a drug dealing and dog fight ring amongst other things." the officer said.

Against Damians better judgement, he inched away from Batman's side to the angry sounds of barks.

All around the dirty ground on Gotham outskirts, officers shoved drug dealers into the police car, various slurs and dirty words were being exchanged by everyone but Damian could only hear a pained and angry cry of a dog.

Damian's feet took him over until a giant whole was under his feet. Damian's masked eyes followed the trail of blood until it reached a breathing dog, standing on his feet and growling at no one.

The moment it saw Damian it barked, loudly and angrily but Damian could only feel sorrow. The brown german shepherd was covered in blood and a makeshift mask that was clearly hurting it's ears.

Robin looked over his shoulders to check where his father was. Batman was still talking to the ringmaster about the more troubling aspects, the drug dealers.

But Damian felt like his heart was being torn to pieces just by seeing the hurt and trauma on the poor dogs face. The said dog that was barking loudly and snarling and showing Robin his teeth.

But if there was one person in the world who knew how to cover up the horror within with offensive actions, it was Damian.

Robin huffed. He leaped down and landed on his feet in front of the dog. The dog barked loudly and thrashed around, fighting the chain around his neck. Robin took a deep breath and checked the chain around the dog's neck to make sure it was secure and the dog couldn't actually bite off his hand. He kneeled down next to the poor dog. And gently tried to remove the metal mask.

The dog whined, Barked and moved violently but Damian was more persistent. The maso fell down with a loud thud and the dog looked up at Robin.

Robin crossed his arms. "Tt. Much better now."

Suddenly the dog charged forward and started licking all over Damians face. A short laugh escaped Damians mouth. He gently held the dogs face in front of him and smiled. "Ew! You dog." Damian murmured holding it up in front of him. "Disgusting."

Damian gently got himself to his feet and ruffled the dogs fur. "Let's get out... Uhm..." Damian lifted the name tag on the collar just to see an ace if Spades. "... Let's get out of here Ace." Damian looped a hand around the dog, who was moving his tail happily.

Loading the grappling gun with one hand was harder than he thought but Damian readied it and aimed for high above. "Let's get up." Damian murmured with a frown and held the dog closely to himself.

The grapple hooked to a nearby building and pulled both of them on the ground. The dog whined all the way but Damian kept it close to his heart, trying to assure him it was going to be alright.

Damian let go of the grappling gun just on time to land on his feet on the ground. Damian ruffled the dogs hair with one hand and let the dog bark viciously at others.

Batman and the commissioner appeared right in front of him. Commissioner did nothing but raise an eyebrow. "Well, I did say the dog needs a home." Gordon pointed out, nodding at Damian who refused to let Ace down.

Batman growled. He glared at Robin who froze for a moment and returned the favor with a version of his own batglare. Smoke ceased behind them and Gordon excused himself off to work.

Batman came closer, cape fluttering behind him. "What's this?" he growled, not taking his eyes off the dog in Damians arms.

"Ace." Damian murmured with a smirk. "His name is Ace."

Batman looked back at Robin with a frown. "Robin, put Ace down, we're leaving." he ordered.

Robin took a step back and cradled Ace in his arms, slightly turning and shielding Ace from the Batman's frustrated glares. Ace was in pain, it was obvious from the slight shake of his figure and the only people who had the counter drugs were Batman and Robin.

Robin narrowed his eyes delivering a Batglare of his own. He didn't need to put them into words, his intentions were obvious.

============

Ace was sitting comfortably next to Damian in the car. Damian scuffed and ruffled the dogs fur while nagging under his breath.

Alfred, bless him, never invoked a conversation and let this ride to Gotham academy be as silent as possible. The only voice was Aces occasional purrs and barks when Damian played with him.

"This is all for you Ace. Or else I would have stepped foot in Gotham Academy." Damian said loudly, intending for Alfred to hear it.

The agreement was clear. Damian would go to Gotham academy for a day and in exchange he could keep Ace. Damian nagged lowly as he thought of his fathers possible plans.

Batman always got what he wanted, After all.

But Damian could be stubborn too when he wanted to. Maybe if he could get Alfred to talk, he'd get a glimpse of his fathers plans.

"This is torture." Damian declared, hitting the back of his head to the seat. "Torture" he murmured emphsizing on the words.

Ace made a small noise and licked the side of Damians face... Which, no matter how much Damian fought it, made him smile.

Alfred didn't take his eyes off the road. "I believe the vast majority of the children of Gotham will agree with you Master Damian." He said nonchalantly.

"Why do I have to go! I already know whatever the teachers are trying to teach!" Damian said loudly. "What have I done that condemned me to such punishment."

"Soon, you'll realise this is not punishment sir."

"Oh well then, what is it?"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "We legally can't homeschool you forever." Alfred pointed out. Slowly, Alfred turned around and Damian could see the outlines of an enormous old building with golden writings on it.

"And Gotham Academy is going to be any good?"

"Master Damian, it's only for a day isn't it?" Alfred murmured and slowed down to an achingly slow speed. Gotham academies brick walls looked even more like prison up close.

Before Damian could argue with Alfred any further he saw the ghost of a ginger head from the corner of his eyes. The ginger boy was skipping across the road like it was the best day of his life.

His physique was extremely familiar.

Suddenly Damians eyes widened. 'Is that Colin?' Damian thought to himself, he didn't realise he had pressed his face to the window.

When the car drove past him and Damian could finally see the boy's face, Damian saw that it was really Colin.

His mouth dropped. How could a normal Orphan from Gotham afford Gotham academy without scholarship (that colin didn't have)?

The moment Alfred stopped, Damian ruffled Ace's head and jumped off the car. Just in time for Colin to reach the metallic front doors of Gotham academy.

Colin stopped skipping. His smile grew impossibly further. "Damian!" Colin cheered happily and ran over to Damian. "You come here too?"

Damian ignored that question. His face crumpled for a moment as he scanned Colin's neatly ironed and cleaned black and blue uniform from head to toe. "How did you--" he wanted to ask but Colin beat him to it.

"I got accepted!" Colin cheered, throwing his hands in the air. "I thought I wouldn't Get it! But Gotham academy increased the number of their scholarships this year and I got accepted! We have Wayne foundation to thank for that."

Damian closed his eyes.

So that was Fathers grand plan? Bringing Colin to the same school?

Colin grabbed Damians elbow and Damian fought himself not to break his grip. Colin started running and pulled Damian with him. "C'mon Damian! We'll be late for the first day!" he cheered happily.

"Lets go." Damian growled and forced his feet to take one step after another into the academy that looked exactly like a prison in his mind.

How could Colin be so happy?

Damian rolled his eyes and played with the handles of his bag as he followed Colin's' rapid steps towards the academy.

"Master Damian?"

Damian stopped, Colin stopped into a halt next to him. Damian was slightly disappointed at the change of mood that Alfred's word brought with them. He turned back immediately. "What?" he asked.

Alfred's smile was unrivaled. "I'll pick you up at 3 Pm." he said and tipped his hat.

~

Damian decided he'd rather stay hungry all day than to eat in a dining room with hundreds of other students. With all that sound.

And food fight.

All around him, people with dark blue matching outfits came and stood in line, thankfully, none of them wanted to invoke in a conversation (not that Damian would answer them even if they did) Colin's didn't share Lunch time with him, another reason not to ever return to this prison-like school.

There was no empty table, So Damian grabbed his lunch box and left the dining room. The double doors closed with an echoing sound that Damian ignored.

The yard was more suitable, mostly because it was empty and was surrounded by bushes and flowers. Damian sat next to the broken fountain in the middle of the yard and started eating the lunch Alfred had prepared earlier, Tuna sandwich.

Damian could listen to silence that was only filled with the sound of the fountains forever. Especially after arguing non-stop with the teachers. It's not his fault Mother cared about education at an extremely high level for a ten-year-old.

Slowly, he put his sandwich down and his lips twitched upwards. Damian gently closed his lunch box. "You can't sneak up on me, Colin." he said as a matter of fact.

From behind him, he could hear a faint sound of laughter and a ramble of bushes until Colin pulled himself out of it. "Well, it was worth a try." he said with a smile and brushed off the leaves that were left on his uniform.

Colin jumped forward and stood next to him with the widest grin on his face. "How's the new nerd doing?" he mocked.

Damian frowned. "What?"

"You knew more about Shakespeare shows that our literature teacher did, I thought english wasn't your first language!"

Damian scuffed and raised an eyebrow. "It isn't." he said as a matter of fact. "But my mother cared about certain writers all over the world and he was one of them. Apparently I know more about it as a child than a certificated teacher."

"A child??"

"I was six when I finished it."

Colin's jaw dropped for a moment and stared at Damian's serious face. He broke into laughter, hanging on the railings to keep his balance and hunching down a little.

Damian growled. "I'm not lying!" he said loudly, feeling the anger boil inside him, what was so unbelievable. "And the teacher was wrong about it!"

Colin struggled to form words at first, all of them were broken by another round of laughter. "You didn't have to fight the teacher over it." Colin said mid-laughter. "It's just a story!"

Damian crossed his arms, eyebrows twitching slightly. "Stop laughing!" he demanded, his own voice stuttered because apparently, Colin's laugh was contagious. "The story might be viewed this way to a 21st century American reader but you have to put yourself in the characters place when you are criticizing it!"

Colin wiped a tear of joy from the side of his face, trying to catch his breath from endless laughter. "You sound like the nuns." he breathed out.

"Well, they aren't as bad as I thought they were."

Colin smiled and slowly sat down next to him on the fountains and didn't say anything, kindly enjoying the silence in the yard.

A lazy smile settled on Colin's face. As if being here, in this school, in this yard, after a tiring day of learning, was all he wanted in his life. Damian felt the threads of guilt slowly catch him because he's had that opportunity all his life and never used it.

Which reminded him about another thing he didn't want to remember.

"The abductors... Have you encountered them again since that night?" Damian asked, breaking the blissful silence and the sound of a fountain between them.

The smile on his face fell. Colin shook his head as a silent no. "No... Why?" He asked.

Damian looked over his shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. They were still alone in the yard, not one person in sight.

Damian locked eyes with Colin's brown orbs and whispered: "Batman suspects they might be more than common kidnappers or bullies..."

Colin blinked. "What?"

"If it wasn't for you, we would have never realised there was such a gang. They want to remain a secret." Damian explained. Trying to find the best words not to hurt his frien-- companion. "They are kidnapping people who won't be noticed by the media."

"Like orphans." Colin breathed out, eyes slowly falling to the ground. "They certainly won't be missed."

Damian opened his mouth to shut down any ridiculous thoughts in Colin's mind but his tongue couldn't find the right words. Damian only had the ability to just reach out a hand and stop midway, because he couldn't invoke touch so casually either.

"I think I need to tell you something." Colin sighed and looked up at Damian's green eyes. "I went over to check the old hideout and... I think they'd found it.... The place was a rubble, I thought it was the local kids fault but now that I think about it..."

Damian growled. "Don't go there again. _Never_ go there again." Damian demanded, not knowing why his voice was so high and angry.

Colin playfully raised his hands, in a joke way of surrender. "ok. Ok I won't." Colin said with a fake smile. "But the orphanage is even less safe if they know about the hideout."

Damian narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Gotham subway station number 7, in narrows" Damian murmured and then stood up, holding the lunch box in his hand. "Meet me there at 8 tonight."

That, and with no further explanation, Damian turned around and left the yard. He had too much to do for tonight after all.

===========

Damian had seen people surprise other people many times on TV. So, he thought maybe he could pull the same trick when he was showing him the new hideout for the first time.

Damian had covered Colin's eyes and Ace was leading his way down to the underground facility. Colin almost fell down a few times and Damians traitorous mind came up with a contingency plan to easily disarm his friend if it ever came down to it.

Apparently, Making contingency plans for his few friends was a trait he took from his father.

Damian narrowed his eyes at every corner, every street and every living being that passed just to make sure they were not being followed down the abandoned subway station.

When they reached the hidden door, Ace started to and wiggle his tail. "I have to say Damian, your idea of surprise is kind of dangerous." Colin murmured as Damian pushed him into the hidden door.

Damian scanned the hidden cave around them and gently closed the door, ceiling the entrance and the engines flared to life.

The lights started to work.

"We're here." Damian declared. With a swift movement, he loosened the piece of cloth and it fell down.

Colin let his eyes adjust to the brightness and then his brown eyes widened and his jaw fell down.

'Mission success.' Damian told himself.

Down the stairs, The cave was reshaped with metallic structures into a T shaped way that had two extra branches before the dead end and a triple-screen computer. Both of the ways led to an extra flat space.

Unlike the Batcave, Damian stationed the lamps so that they lit up every corner.

Colin exchanged a horrified look with Damian. "Dear god." Left Colin's mouth. Suddenly he was sprinting down the stairs. "Woah" left Colin's mouth as he spinned around and tried to take everything in.

Damian smirked a little, proud of himself but then he dropped it immediately, afraid of what it might mean.

Colin walked forward looking around the giant cave. It wasn't even close to the batcave but it was huge which was enough to blow Colin's mind.

"The cave was originally a station for Gotham underground trains that my great-great-grandfather designed." Damian explained. "It was never used so it can be our new hideout." Damian's blood ran cold when he realised he'd said ' _our_ new hideout' instead of 'the new hideout.'

"What are we going to do with all this space?" Colin murmured looking around the opposite flat areas.

Damian hummed thoughtfully. "There can be our training spot." Damian pointed at the empty square shape at the end of the right line.

Colin cheered in delight. "And that can be Food and rest space" he said and pointed at the left area. "Can we put up showers? We can get the water from the rain!"

Damian blinked a few times. He wanted to say that would be a perfect spot for their Weapons but he decided to bite his tongue.

Colin threw his hands up and spinned around. "Damian! This is going to be Ter-rific!" he cheered loudly, stopping to look right at Damian.

Slowly, Colin took a deep breath and clutched his right hand to his chest. Colin closed his eyes and took another breath. When Damian looked closer he realised why. The tip of Colin's fingers was turning brown, turning into clay.

"Tt." left Damians mouth and he crossed his arms. "You are excited?"

Colin smiled and held his hand up as it quickly turned back human. "It's hard to stay calm when you have this!" he said with a smile and spinner around, pointing at everything. "Am-azing"

"That is hardly--"

But before Damian could finish his words the alarms went off, the lights turned blinking red and the sirens screamed danger. Damian wiped his head to the side and saw the computer showing "intruder alert" in black and red. The other screens showed the security cameras... And no one could be seen.

Damian ran to the computer, cracked his knuckles and started typing feverishly the commands he needed to bring up the motion sensors, Colin followed closely behind.

"We have alarms?" Colin murmured, slowly taking in one-two-three deep breaths. Damian could see two mallet shaped clay in Colin's human hands, he was controlling his powers, then.

"Tt. Yes. We have an intruder." Damain murmured, slowly he drew back his hands and looked at Colin with a fake calm. "An intruder who managed to hack our motion sensors."

Before Colin could say anything, Damian smiled. "Tt. Only one other person can do that. This place is maximum security." Damian said with a frown, slowly leaning back on his own feet and eyes looking away from Colin to see A dark figure's reflection on the screen. "Isn't it, Father?"

"It is."

Colin jumped back when that deep voice reached his ears. Unconsciously gaining in height and morphing into his clay form. Damian held a hand in front of him. "Dont panic." he said and stepped in front of his friend. "Tt. This is my father."

As if on Command, Colin shrinked back to a teenaged human, covered by Damian's body from Batman's view.

The dark knight took heavy steps closer to the duo, glaring at both of them even though he could only see his own son. The cape swinged in the air and the sound echoed in the silent cave. Damian never took his fierce eyes off his fathers cowl.

"You'll need much more control than that if you want to stay in the streets." Batman stated, his stern voice echoed in the underground cave.

The person in question slowly made himself known. "Is that Batman?" Colin murmured, slowly peeking from behind Damian. "Hello Sir?"

Batman narrowed his eyes but didn't growl or sneer. None of that usual anger was on his face this time... Just genuine concern. "Yes, I'm Batman." he said with his usual voice this time.

Colin slowly came out of his hiding spot, fully human. "Im meeting batman...Cool... Cool" he murmured. He shook his head and smiled up at the other man. "Damians told me so much about you sir."

"Too much I see." Batman said loudly. "I don't need to remind you that our secret ID is not to be tempered with?"

Colin nodded rapidly. "I know sir, I know, your secret is safe with me." he murmured with a smile.

Damian just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Tt. What do you want father?" he asked. "You could have just walked through the front door."

"I wanted to check your security." Batman stated. It would be a cold day in hell if Batman allowed his son to be in danger, but Batman was never going to say that outloud. "And it's acceptable. Be at home by 12."

Batman took a step back and sank into the shadows. For a moment, he was standing right infront of Colin and the other he was gone.

"Very well," was Damian's only acknowledgement, he turned around and turned off the computer.

Colin pointed at where Batman was. "Did he just--" he murmured.

"What? Disappear?" Damian asked, raising an eyebrow with a mocking smile. "A little bit more training and you might do this trick as well."

Colin's eyes shone bright and Damian chuckled. He picked up his tool box and looked around. "Come on, Wilkes we have too much to fix in this place."

============

Dinner in Wayne manor was always served in complete silence except for the sound of spoons and forks and Alfreds occasional comments. The long table was covered with only two people and enough food for the two of them in expensive colorful plates.

This time however, Damian struggled against himself about whether or not he should tell father about the new information he acquired from Colin. Because now, they knew these kidnappers weren't acting randomly.

If they did, they wouldn't have come after Colin twice and destroyed his hideout.

Damian hummed thoughtfully once or twice, tasting the words before he ever spoke them, changing them every once in a while because even after three years, Damian struggled with detective works.

Was this information even important?

Of course it was.

But Damian was hesitant because A. He was afraid of what might happen if Batman had known about this for months and it'd taken this long to figure out the case, and B. He didn't know how father would react if he didn't know.

Essentially, he didn't know how his father would react.

Damian swallowed hard and decided to run the risk. He cleaned the sides of his mouth and turned his father, aiming to go straight to the point without introduction...

But he hesitated for a moment.

And His father had plans of his own apparently.

Father wiped the sides of his mouth without looking at either of them. "I'll be in my office." father stated and stood up. Damian opened his mouth to talk but quickly shut it, only being able to nod at the older man.

Bruce made his way out of the dinning room and Damian huffed loudly, leaning against the chair and food completely forgotten.

Damian narrowed his eyes at the plate in front of him and took a deep breath.

Slowly he felt Ace softly licking his hand and getting his attention. Damian turned his narrowed eyes at the dog. "What is it, Ace?" he murmured.

Damian hesitantly touched the dog's face and pet its fur, too lost in thought to understand that Ace couldn't talk back to him. "Should I tell father?" Damian asked, petting the dogs face. "What do you think, Ace? I think he already knows. Do you think I'll make a joke of myself if I tell him something he's probably known for weeks?"

The dog barked and nuzzled his head closer to Damian, which made Damian pull a meaningless smile. He stood up and ruffled the dog one more time. "Yeah you're probably right." he murmured.

Damian crossed the path to Bruce Wayne's office in long steps and Ace followed closely behind. He knocked and entered the room without waiting for His fathers acknowledgement. "Your suspicions are true." Damian said with one breath. "The kidnappers are doing more than just randomly picking orphans off the streets."

The office was surrounded by libraries and Bruce was sitting in front of full windows and the only source of light was a nightstand and the office desktop. Bruce looked up from his study, eyeing Damian with a serious face. "What makes you say that?" he asked seriously.

"They found Colin's hideout. They wouldn't have done that if they were looking for random orphans."

Bruce hummed, standing up from his seat. "They are targeting them specifically." Bruce concluded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "They are hunting, most likely, activated Meta-humans. Probably because they don't know how to activate it themselves."

Damian raised an eyebrow. "Does the justice league know how to activate a meta-gene?" he asked curiously but dreading the answer at the same time.

Bruce ignored his question and walked the remaining distance between them. "We need a list of possible targets." Bruce concluded. "The batcave can track the algorithm and conduct a list. Does Colin know anyone else with meta-powers?"

Damian bit his lip. "I have a feeling he does." he murmured. "But he never confirmed anything."

Bruce hummed and activated the holo computer in his office, coding without looking back to look at Damian. "Anything else?"

Damian shook his head silently, just noticing that Ace was circling his feet.

"I'll see what I can get." Father watched Damian from the corners of his eyes. The sides of his mouth pulled into a one sided smile. "Good work."

===========

And of course, like the thousands of times every superhero warned him, the Batman's most genius plan involved someone falling into the line of fire.

This time, That someone was Colin.

As always, it wasn't planned this way. Colin was going to let himself be captured, some hidden cameras and speakers were installed in his clothes and Batman even injected a bio-tracker. All in all, the kidnappers were supposed to take him to their hideout and then, Batman and Robin would intervene.

Colin even had a new codename, Abuse.

That was a wonderful plan, up until the kidnappers caught Colin and everything except the locator returned static.

Damian wasn't going to sit and watch Colin's name be added to the endless list of lost children that Batman and Robin suspected to be related to these meta-human kidnappers.

Damian knew how to drive, but driving the batmobile amongst the mountain sides of Gotham up to the outskirts and in the raw of abandoned factories was something else.

Even if Fathers threatening on the communicator wouldn't shut up.

"This is unacceptable! Come back, I have to call the police first." Batman said angrily just in time as Damian reached Colin's last known location and stopped the car.

"Oh I'd like to hear that call." Damian whispered as he jumped down from the batmobile. Facing the dark toy factory in front of him. "Hello police, my son stole the batmobile."

"I'm on my way, don't engage."

Damian rolled His eyes and turned off the communicator in his ear, buying some peace.

The factory in front of him was even cold to watch. Made fully of metal and steel with no hint of color left on the structure. It was nothing a normal human would be interested in, a perfect spot for people that had something to hide.

Damian sneaked over to the roof and opened an air vent soundlessly and closed it behind him, he crawled all the way until he could hear the faintest sounds of a human male monologuing. He kept on going as soundlessly as he could until he could see the man and another petite woman in black from inside the vents.

The man, the _doctor_ , was wearing white from head to toe staring at four green tubes in front of him, Robin couldn't see what was inside the tubes exactly but whatever it was, it was important.

The Doctor rolled his masked eyes. "Ready the tankers." he demanded. The assistant while walking away. "We're leaving before dawn. The test subjects are ready."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Test subjects..." he whispered and waited until the doctor and the assistant were gone before he kicked the vent open and dropped down, landing gracefully on his feet.

Robin brushed the dirt off his clothes and scanned the room, the room was nothing but a place to store the 4 tubes, all four of them contained teenagers that couldn't have been much older than he was. The faces however, were familiar. The first was one Carrie Kantor, the foster parents never reported her missing. The second was Freddie Doro, the school never even noticed he was gone. The third one was unfamiliar, which meant their list was in complete and the fourth one---

Damian stopped in front of it and touched the vile, brushing away the mist that sat on it with his hands, just to make sure he was seeing things right. That was Colin's face in that body, Colin's _human_ face. In the body that was floating up and down in an unknown green chemical.

Damian growled, he picked up a batarang and hit the glass as hard as he could, it cracked under the third hit and shattered after the fourth.

The green water poured out and Colin fell on the shards, completely unconscious and surprisingly, in street clothes. Robin dropped down next to his friend's fallen form.

Colin was pale, paler than usual. His ginger hair was soaked wet and plastered to his head. The sound of his breathing was ragged and painful, the rise and fall of his chest barely visible.

Robin held the sharp batarang close to Colin's mouth, it fogged up and Robin let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Abuse? Colin..." Robin murmured softly, hitting Colin's cheek as gently as he could.

Colin stiffened. Robin hit his face again, harder this time.

Colin's eyes widened and he sat up at once. Taking in a sharp loud breath. "I'm up." he murmured, gently rubbing the back of his aching neck. "I'm up for--." his brown eyes landed on robin with shock. "Robin?"

Robin nodded and helped him up to his feet, Colin couldn't quite stand up completely but he hung on to Robin until his feet had enough strength. "The mission! Where are we?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Somewhere outside of Gotham." Robin responded, pointing at the other three green tubes. "we have to get them out, can you morph?"

Colin took a deep breath and held his right hand in front of him and closed his eyes. His transformation started from the tips of his fingers up to the tip of his head. In a matter of seconds Colin looked like a muscular grown man, the persona of Abuse. "Heh, looks like I can." Colin said.

"Sometimes I wish you could change your voice as well. You still sound like a child." Robin whispered and pointed to the cubes. "Free them."

Colin nodded, he walked over until his giant hands reached the tubes, it took only a punch for the glass to shatter and three bodies fell down.

The other three, unlike Colin, woke immediately when air touched their skin, breathing heavily and anxiously looking at their surroundings.

"Tt. Listen every one." Robin demanded angrily. The three heads turned towards him. Robin pointed at the ceiling and the open air vent. "We will help you up and you will follow this vent out and wait for the police."

The only girl opened his mouth to object but Robin immediately raised a hand. "Don't nag! We don't have enough time!" he shouted. "Abuse!"

"On it."

It was nothing for Colin, with his giant size, to help the other three reach the ceiling.

Robin handed one of them his rope, hoping they knew how to use it in order to get out. "Take this and Go. The police are already on the way," Robin demanded. Then, the other three didn't hesitate to leave through the vents. Their sound echoing loudly.

Robin turned to abuse with a frown. "The Doctor, he's still here and I have to get him, go with them." Robin demanded.

Colin chuckled. "Cmon! i can help you."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Colin this is not up for--"

But Robin was interrupted when the doors opened suddenly.

Robin could have easily hid in the matter of moments he had. But Abuse couldn't. So Damian growled and drew out his sword. A small yelp from Abuse was the only thing that confirmed Abuse had also noticed the intruder.

Damian visibly let out a breath when he saw that it was just the Doctor, the petite assistant nowhere to be seen. Damian threw a batarang that hit the door behind the doctor and trapped him with them in the room.

"surrender, You're outclassed." Robin hissed and swinged his sword loudly, its sound echoed in the empty warehouse, eyeing Colin to see how he was going. His giant form had two mallets in hands now, good.

The scientist stood straighter and forced a smile on his face that looked like he was showing his teeth. He chuckled loudly. "Children. So naughty." he murmured. "It would have been amazing if we had a *Children's Failsafe*."

For a second nothing happened. Damian wanted to charge forward until he saw that Colin had suddenly frozen. His Abuse form was standing blankly and staring at a wall, no longer in fighting stance.

Damian narrowed his eyes, a moment later Abuse melted down, literally melted down until Colin's human form was lying on the hard ground.

Robin's eyes widened, his eyes never left The doctors. "What did you do!" he shouted, voice inches away from breaking. Only years of training and beating stopped and his voice was breaking down.

But The Doctor was already on his way out. That was a distraction and Robin dreaded to admit it was working. Doctors hand was on the handle and he spiraled out of the room

Robin growled loudly and he followed, screaming bloody murder. Robin followed him through the halls, the doctor ran all the way out of the factory, he wanted to reach for his car, hoping he'd get away.

The doctor ran into the snow, he could see his car in his arms length.

But in a moment, Robin tackled the man. The Doctor fell down and Damian didn't waste a second to hit the back of his sword to the back of the doctors neck, knocking him out.

Robin took a deep breath, then another, and another, standing with triumph over the still body of The Doctor.

It would be so easy.

All he had to do was to let his sword fall down on the man's back. Then, he would be gone. He couldn't hurt any child anymore, he couldn't hurt _Colin_ anymore.

It was so easy.

What if he survived to do more horrific crimes? What if he survived to hurt more children, isn't he robin? Isn't that his job?

'No it's not. Thats killing.' a rational part of his brain murmured. Damian threw away his sword and it landed on green grass. Damian had to take a deep breath to calm his nerves down.

He had more important things to do.

In the end, Batman arrived with the GCPD and found Robin gently putting Abuse into the Batmobile to take him away. A thorough look later they found the children and no one was dead, thankfully.

Batman reached over to the batmobile and pushed Robin over to the Passenger seat to drive himself. Before they took off, Batman asked one question: "You didn't kill him."

He stated it like he was surprised.

Robin rested his head against the window, he was so tired and his eyelids could barely stay apart. "You said it," Robin hummed, looking up to see his fathers face for the first time that night. " _Justice not vengeance_."

===========

The Batcave was silent when the Batmobile drove through. Batman jumped out of it, holding an unconscious fourteen-year-old, Damian closely followed behind. No one could see the storm that was in his heart.

Alfred arrived with a gurney and Batman Gently put him on it. They exchanged a few words that Damian didn't exactly hear and Alfred was gone to the medical bay. Damian could still see them from behind the transparent walls, feets away and Alfred trying to get the boy as comfortable as possible after they had to extract the mind control chip behind his ear.

A mind control chip.

Behind his _ear_.

Damian fisted his hands. He didn't notice his father came closer to him until a heavy hand was on his shoulder.

Damian's eyes darted to look at his father's. "What were they up to?" he demanded, voice never flattering for a moment.

Father narrowed his eyes. "A way to control Meta-humans." Father said shortly. He crossed the distance to the batcomputer and brought over files and reports from various police Officers. "Their mind control as you called it is still very basic but dangerous nonetheless. They still can't force someone to do something."

Damian narrowed his eyes and tried to memorize the face of the mad doctor and his crew. "So they want Child soldiers?" Damian murmured.

Bruce nodded blankly. "And adults. They don't seem to care about their age. Only they power. And Colin was considered a beta level meta-human." Batman explained. "Alpha level powers resemble the Justice leagues."

Damians pulled his lips into a smirk. "So this _is_ more dangerous than you thought."

"So much more. They even had access to Kryptonian DNA."

"Kent senior?" Damian scuffed. "I thought He couldn't be fully cloned. Why would they want his DNA then?"

Bruce shook his head. "Whoever they are, they don't know that." He stated. "Anything slightly connected to Kryptonian powerhouses is one of the league's greatest secrets."

Damian nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. Jon Kent had to know about this, even if Father wanted it to remain a Gotham matter, but he was interrupted before he could point that out.

Both of them heard a terrified scream and a gasp. They turned around to see Colin wide awake on the other side, the IVs already pulled out and panting heavily, His young face smeared with sweat. He was hugging himself and trying to cover up the fact that his entire arm was turned to clay from the force of stress.

Colin wanted to flee that instant.

Probably the fact that the only two other people he could see in the cave disappeared right in front of him, didn't help at all.

Damian, unmasked, and Batman,fully in costume, appeared right behind him. Right before Colin decided to jump and run to absolutely nowhere, Damian reached out to put a hand on Colin's shaking shoulder. "I see you're awake." he murmured.

Colin gasped loudly. He jumped on his feet. The shapeless clay on his hands turned to two hands holding two mallets. Even his facial expressions started to grow, aging up and turning to abuse.

Damian could see the hurt and anger in those clouded brown eyes resurfacing.

"Colin?"

Slowly Colin's face morphed back into something more human, more childlike. He dropped the mallets fell with a loud thud and He grabbed the sides of his head with one hand, eyes blinking rapidly.

"Where am I?" he murmured, blurring the words together.

Damian wanted to explain but Batman beat him to it. "The Batcave." Batman growled angrily. "We needed to remove the mind control chip they had on you. How did they install it on you?"

Colin's eyes widened. "I-- mind Control?"

Batman nodded. Colin's eyes clouded again, seeing nothing and everything at once. Damian half expected Colin to look around, let his eyes wander and say "Oh, dear god." at everything in the batcave.

But Colin's eyes lost focus somewhere between Damian and Batman. "Mind... c--C-- mind control?" he stuttered.

"You didn't know it was installed?" Batman asked, his rusky voice echoed in the cave, reaching Colin's eyes even more times than it actually did.

" _No._ " Colin breathed out, brown eyes finally focusing on Batman's lenses. "No." he murmured, voice low and uncertain.

Damian swallowed and walked all the way to Colin, who didn't move a muscle. Damian gently helped put a hand on his shoulder and elbow and pushed him to sit down on the medical bed.

Colin just gave him a half hearted smile when he sat down. "Im fine, Damian." he breathed out. "Whatever it is... I can feel it's gone."

"Tt." Damian said automatically, squeezing his gentle hold on Colin's shoulder. In truth, Damian didn't know who he was comforting, Colin or _himself_?

Batman turned around. His cape fluttered around and made a loud voice that forced both teens to look up at the dark knights back. "Robin. Abuse." Batman stated, not looking back at them. "Mission finished, you can go now."

The Dark knights steps echoed in the cave as he left the two alone in their own thoughts.

A solid minute passed and Colin didn't say anything. His eyes were glued to the floor and he was unresponsive to Damians slight punch in the shoulder.

Damian swallowed hard, what should he do? What do you do when your frien-- companion has been mind controlled? Is that even a defined social construct?

Damian pulled up a fake smirk and hit Colin hard in the back. "Rejoice!" Damian said loudly, Colin blinked up at him with surprise. "That's as far as Father will possibly ever encourage someone as Batman."

Colin smiled and even laughed and Damian hoped the glint in his eyes was from this laughter.

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-"There is a gang of kidnappers looking for potential Metahuman children in Gotham." Damian said nonchalantly, he slowly lifted his hand to hit Jon's chest. "And you, dear Superboy, might become a target."** _

_**-Damian frowned angrily, gripping his swords handle tighter. "Do they give costumes in kinder surprise now?" he murmured angrily, scanning The girl's amateur and badly sewed purple costume from head to toe. The blonde girl crossed her arms. "Rude!" she murmured. "And kinder surprise is illegal here."** _

_**-"You won't be able to choke yourself with that tie, Father" Damian said as a matter of fact, smirking against the window. "If I can't skip this boring social event, neither can you."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please drop a kudos or leave a comment! 💜
> 
> Up next chapter: Steph, Duke and Cass! (Ps. This story is Damian-centric so the rest of the characters are mostly background.)


	4. The dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian meets new children wishing to fight for themselves. Who is this spoiler and how does she know all she knows?

Jonathan Kent knew in his bones that he was being followed.

He heard the unfamiliar heartbeat and he recognised the footsteps following him when he said goodbye to his friends.

So Jon narrowed his eyes and stepped into an alleyway right next to his school. He knew someone was following him and he could corner them there.

But he didn't get the chance to surprise his attacker. By some miracle there was a boy standing in front of him with an eager brown dog in his toe. He gently took off his hoodie in front of Jon to show his sly smirk, tanned skin and incredible Jade green eyes.

" _Kent_."

Jon sighed loudly and faced the new voice with a mocking smile, arms crossed. "Wow, if it isn't the son of Batman." he said quietly and tilted his head. Eyeing Damian in the dark alleyway. "Where have you been these days?"

Damian carelessly inspected his hands and then looked up nonchalantly. The dog barked once. "Around." he said simply.

"You didn't show up for Iris West's introduction party."

Damian rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Kid Flash wasn't supposed to stay in our time anyway. She was supposed to go back to the future. And I had no time for a useless party."

Jon sighed. "The last time you showed up for any of our meetings, it was your own introduction party." Jon stated as a matter of fact. "What brings you to my school?"

"There is a gang of kidnappers looking for potential Metahuman children in Gotham." Damian said nonchalantly, he slowly lifted his hand to hit Jons chest. "And you, dear Superboy, might become a target."

Jon grabbed his hand before he could hit him once again, pulling it into his own iron grip. Jon narrowed his eyes. "You said Gotham, what does this have to do with me?" he murmured.

Damian pulled his eyes out of the dark blue eyes of Jon and looked away. "There were a few records in Star city and... And we found remnants of Kryptonian... _Technology_. I though they might be interested in actual kryptonians.'' The last part was a lie but of course, Father was right about one thing or another.

The Kents shouldn't know the whole truth or they'll intervene.

Jon crossed his arms. "Duh, we know how to protect ourselves." he said confidently, closing his eyes and puffing out his chest in a childish manner of showing confidence. "Much better than you bats do actually--"

He opened his eyes to smile down at Damian, who was a few shy inches shorter than him... But his eyes couldn't see him behind or infront of him.

Damian was gone. As simple as that.

Jon kicked the can on the ground, it bounced through the walls and his super senses heard it a thousand times. "I hate that stupid ninja move." he muttered to himself, alone in that dark alley.

===========

Rooftops were Damians least favorite spot. They were open, they left you vulnerable to any attack and since this was Gotham and he was robin, that was just screaming for trouble.

But he needed the unfamiliar surroundings of Gotham City center rooftops to teach Colin self defence better.

It was already sundown, and they'd been training for less than an hour with bo staff, because Colin insisted they were cool. Robin had his metal bo staff while Colin made one from his own Clay that looked almost _identical_.

After they had the basic down, Collins amateur moves slowly rhymed with Damians, the clashes became less and less violent until Colin knew how to block and attack two out of three times.

Damian was pulling back of course. But when he saw that overly confident spark in Colins brown eyes, he hissed. In a complicated move he shoved him back and hit Colins knees, effectively pulling him out of balance.

Colin fell down on his right hand with a very loud thud, one that echoed in the middle of air conditioning posts and empty roofs.

Colin let out a deep breath and rested his head against the cement. Covering his eyes with his hands and trying to even out his breathing. "How is your breathing normal??? We've been sparing for _hours_."

"It's been approximately 50 minutes. And you need to train more."

Panting loudly, Colin tried to regain his stance. "Damian I told you I'm fine." Colin said with a sigh. Then he dropped his makeshift bo staff and crossed his arms. "We've been doing this for hours."

Damian broke his stance, looking at Colin with narrowed eyes. "And you've grown considerably better at bo staff training in the short time we've been practising." he stated.

Colin chuckled, his furios face broke into a smile and he picked up his bo staff again. The staff returned to its Clay form and rejoined the rest of Colins arm like nothing had happened. "I have to admit you're right about that."

Damian rolled his eyes. "We're not done yet." he said loudly.

Colin sighed, putting his hands in his worn out jackets pockets. "This is really unnecessary." he murmured under his breath.

"It is necessary! There is only one rule and that's winning, What if you encounter someone stronger?" Damian asked, putting back his bo staff where it shrank and hid in his utility belt. "Our team can't take a liability like that."

Collins brown eyes widened and he tilted his head slightly, a playful smirk on his face. "Did you just... call us a team?" he murmured.

Damian's eyes found the nearby wall and he crossed his arms.

Colin inched closer with a laugh. "Are you..." Colin murmured with a sly smile, inching closer. "Worried about me?"

Damian growled. "No." he stated quickly.

"Ah! You do care!" he said and tilted his head slightly with a laugh.

Damian rolled his eyes, he put his palm on Collins face and pushed Colin back. "The heartless Damian wayne that doesn't call me his friend... Is worried about me!" Colin sang.

Damian robbed the side of his head as if he had a headache. "For the last time--" he wanted to shout but his tantrum was interrupted by a sound of notification on Damian's wrist computer. He rolled his eyes and opened it, his frown deepened.

Colin moved closer, trying to peek through the device and see what the message was. "Is it from Batman?" he asked curiously.

Damian shook his head. "Agent A." He corrected and shut down the computer. "He wanted me to be back home at 8." Damian murmured.

Colin raised an eyebrow. "It's seven... Why?" he whispered. Damian just shrugged.

Damian took a deep breath and took a step back, slowly falling back into his fighting stance and pulling out his sword and holding it in front of him, he could see Colins faint reflection on the stainless sword. "We have time for another round. This time, you can choose your weapons. one rule, winning." he offered.

Colin rolled his eyes and huffed. He stretched his hands and the tips formed two mallets in his hands. They stared at each other and circled the other carefully, both of them waiting for the other to charge. "Well, I can at least try." Colin murmured and stood in his stance.

Damian smirked and jumped high, aiming the first strike at Collins right hand. Which knocked the malet out of his hand.

Eventually, Damian won.

After one last kick on the abdomen, and a slight cut over his left cheek, Colin fell on his back and Damian immediately held the tip of his sword inches away from his throat.

"One rule, I win." Damian whispered as he gently drew his sword back and put it on his belt. He gently offered a hand to help his sparring partner stand up. Colin smiled fondly.

"Well. You win." Colin admitted and accepted the hand. Damian gently pulled him up.

"But We still haven't even figured out where the kidnappers next subject is, shouldn't tell him at this point?" Colin murmured softly, pressing his right hand to the side of his face where he'd hit the ground. The skin there morphed and shut the wound like it was nothing there, good as new.

Damian kind of envied him.

There was a shift in the air, a slight echoing sound of door against metal and Damian quickly jumped into action, pulling Colin behind him and pulling out his sharpest batarang. He closed his eyes and listened for more clues of the intruder.

Damian quickly turned around and threw a batarang at where he'd heard the voice. The batarang hit the container and even Colin could hear a girl scream that followed.

"Show yourself, now!" Damian shouted, pulling out another batarang and ready to throw it.

Colin looked around, trying to find their female stalker. "How did you spot her?" he whispered.

Damian ignored his question. "You either come out or I'm throwing this batarang." he hissed. "This time it won't miss."

"Ok! Ok! I'm coming out!"

The question mark on Collins' mind only grew when he saw a blonde girl with a full dark mask and dressed fulling in purple stepped forward with her hands in the air. Damian growled but he knew she wasn't really a threat for them.

"I'm a friend! I'm a friend! I'm a hero... Sort of." she murmured the last part incoherently with her hands still up.

Damian frowned angrily, gripping his swords handle tighter. "Do they give costumes in kinder surprise now?" he murmured angrily, scanning The girl's amateur and badly sewed purple costume from head to toe. The blonde girl crossed her arms. "Rude!" she murmured. "And kinder surprise is illegal here."

Before Damian could come up with another sarcastic comment, the girl shrugged it off and pointed at what was behind them. "What you're looking for is near gotham ducks number 9 at 11pm." she stated.

Colin peeked from behind him and took the girl's appearance in. He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?" he asked seriously and the girl answered with the most sheepish shrug she could

"I just do." she said with a smile. "Are you going or not?"

"That's no answer! How do you know?"

"I just do! God, paranoid much."

Damian narrowed his eyes. He tried to step closer to the purple girl but she jumped three steps back. Damian stood and raised his head. "Why should we trust you?" he asked slowly, never turning his glare from the purple girl.

She shook her head and shrugged. if she wasn't wearing a full mask, they would have seen her awkward smile. "I don't know what to tell you, but _please_ do?" he murmured awkwardly. "Anyways... I'm going now!"

Spoiler ran all the way to the other side of the roof, Damian wanted to follow and demand more answers but Colins gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"So what should we call you, ma'am?" Colin shouted a gentle smile plastered to his face. Damian made a face at that comment.

The girl stopped and turned around to look at the duo. "Spoiler." she said way too happily. "My name is spoiler."

Colin gave a childish salute. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Spoiler." he said.

Spoiler cheered and jumped down the roof, they could hear her happy cry even when she was three blocks away.

==========

Damian never let discomfort not be known as Colin followed him behind in the various containers of Gotham Ducks from number one all the way to number nine.

The night was followed by deathly silence that was occasionally broken by Collins loud footsteps, otherwise they were drowned in complete silence. Damian checked the time.

22:57.

And when Damian gently opened the door number 9, he was greeted with an empty room.

Robin narrowed his eyes. Colin stepped forward to see the small empty dark room that Spoiler got them to.

Colin hummed. "Maybe there's a hidden spot here somewhere?" he murmured.

Robin spinned around and out of the room, growling under his breath. "This was a set up." he whispered and crossed his arms. "I'm going back to the batcave--"

"Robin look!"

Robin turned around to see Colin pointing at the next room with a scattered 8 on it. "There are two 8 rooms." Colin murmured thoughtfully.

Robin growled and he gently walked over to the giant door with the deformed 8 on it. "Why do they have two eights?" Colin hummed.

"Because this one isn't an eight."

Robin slowly hovered his hand above the curved line that made number 9 into an 8. Robin's hand fell down on the iron lock on the door.

"Let's get in then."

"Tt. This is ridiculous, for all we know she might be their double agent." Robin hissed, breaking the lock with one swift movement. Damian kicked down the door and looked for guards, hopefully he found none.

Robin pointed at Colin to follow him. Colin followed closely behind. "Yes but, I doubt a thirteen year old could be brainwashed that easily. I assure you Damian, she wasn't on a mind control chip." he said confidently.

"You are no expert."

Colin decided to answer his words with silence.

The sound of a football match reached Robin's ears and he suddenly hushed his companion. Unbeknownst to them, at 11 at night sharp the guards had gathered to watch a football match in the other room, leaving that containment vulnerable.

Robin saw them through his night vision, perked up against the TV and sometimes shouting at the referee and at each other, probably because one of them had to keep guard but preferred to watch Football.

"The guards are in the other room." Robin said with a hush. "We have to find them." Robin tapped his mask to activate his heat vision.

The room stayed like a bark pit if you excluded the four guards in the other room. The only exciting feature was three tube-like items not so far away at the end of the room. Robin turned off the nightvision and quickly walked over to it.

With normal vision, he could only see a rough black fabric, presumably covering a window or a wall.

"What's that?" Colin murmured, raising an eyebrow at Damian's hand above the fabric.

Damian hummed. "Let's find out." Robin murmured and pulled down the fabric, it slipped and fell down until it revealed what it was hiding.

"Dear God!"

In Front of them was a line of two tubes holding unconscious children in a floating green chemical. The fluorescent light shined and destroyed all the darkness in the room. That was The exact same technology that had been holding Colin a few days prior.

"Tt. Free them as soundlessly as you can."

Colin nodded and put his hand on the green tubes. The tips of his fingers turned into Clay that spread over the entire glass container. Colin let out a deep breath and slowly pulled back, the Glass doors opened under pressure and slowly the green chemicals fell out, making a small puddle on the ground.

When they were sure all the waters were out, Colin pulled away and lifted the glass doors.

Only one of the kidnapped teens was awake. He was slowly massaging the back of his neck and when his eyes landed in the two figures in front of him, one of which was a giant made of clay, he jumped back.

Robin shushed him. "Go!" he barked, pointing at the way out. "The police are coming."

The shaking teen walked past abuse and walked over with hesitant steps. Damian looked at the other container, a girl was inside, still unconscious.

Damian kneeled down and picked up the girl, who couldn't be more than six years old. Robin gently picked up the girl and ran out as fast as he could, the moment he was out of the compartment he snapped the door shut and Colin sealed it with his Clay. The kidnappers weren't going to come out for a long time.

Abuse let out a deep breath. The sound of their breathing the only thing their ears could hear for a long time until the figure in Robin's arms started to shake.

Robin put her down, gently supporting her neck until she could take a correct breath into her lungs. She slowly blinked open her brown eyes, which darted around frantically until it landed on The R symbol on Damians chest.

"Robin?" the girl murmured, weakly lifting her hand to touch the R.

"Tt. Yes" Robin said carelessly.

The girl's eyes shone for a moment and then The small girl wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly, like her life depended on it. "I knew you and Batman would come!"

Robin was at loss of what to do, hug back? Don't hug back? Throw the girl away. He looked at Abuse's face and he just nodded with a pained smile.

Robin let her be.

She hugged him even tighter, holding onto Damian's neck as hard as he could. "You're my favorite hero." she murmured, her sound lost in the echoes of the street.

==========

Robin landed on his feet and when the sirens didn't scream he let out a deep breath because somehow he had evaded the manors countless security devices.

A smile crept up to his face as he stood on his feet and brushed off the leaves and bushed left on his uniform. Robin climbed up to the manors structure until he reached the window of his room and quietly unlocked the window.

'I can't believe this' he thought with a laugh, he removed his soil covered boots and held it in his hand in order not to ruin his room's carpets.

He put his first foot down and leaned in, but before he could put his other foot down the lights went on, temporarily blinding him.

Damians took a moment to adjust, he closed his eyes and tried to cover the light with his free hand. Damian didn't need to open his eyes; he could hear the other man's rapid breathing very clearly. but he had to open his eyes eventually.

Damian saw His father sitting on the chair in the middle of his room, arms crossed with a frown on his face, Alfred right beside him. Father was gripping the sides of the chair too tightly and almost leaning forward.

"Where _were_ you?" Father asked, emphasizing on every word, eyes never leaving Damians.

Damian could feel exhaustion taking him over but he straightened his back and gave his father his own version of the batglare. "Out." he said simply.

"Why is Robin around looking for the kidnapped meta-children without telling Batman?"

"You don't mean you have forgotten what happened last time I asked for your help, father?"

Bruce robbed the bridge of his nose. "That was an expense of the mission, things like this are inevitable if you want to win the fight." he said with a loud sigh. "And Abuse handled himself... fine."

Damian raised an eyebrow and stared at his fathers calculating eyes. Never paying attention to Alfred or Ace standing far over the room.

"I have made a decision." Bruce declared loudly. Damian wanted to roll his eyes and say:'whatever you do, you can't bench me.' or another outraged comment about Robin being his right but he was surprised when His fathers hands landed on his sides.

"You and Abuse can continue working on this case as long as you update me every night, starting tomorrow." he ordered.

Damian's eyes widened and he fought the smile that was creeping up his face. "Yes Father." he murmured and his Father nodded.

Bruce slowly left the room with Ace in his toe before he stopped and looked back. "Shower and sleep, we have an event tomorrow." he said and closed the door, leaving Damian in the dark of his own room.

Damian let out a deep breath and let himself smile. His first solo case, well Abuse was going to help too but Robin was doing all the work. Having Abuse as backup had a good feeling he didn't want to lose.

The sound of a notification broke through the silence, Damian took out his phone and blinked away the sudden light as he read the text from Colin.

-Colin: "Spoiler came to the orphanage!"

-Colin: "And dropped a letter."

-Colin: "did you know she could climb straight walls?"

"Another one from spoiler?" Robin murmured, reading the text again and opened the picture, reading what she had left. The letter was put together with margined letters from a girls magazine. He hummed and typed: -"This is just an address."

-Colin: "and a time. With a name of a person called Duke Thomas..."

-Colin: "I have no idea what that means."

-Colin: "how does she know all this?"

Damian hummed thoughtfully before he took a deep breath and typed: -"We'll find out"

===========

The address turned out to be a home, a small civilian home, home to the Thomas family. Respectable citizens with only occasional speeding as the worst thing they've done.

And somehow, the masked kidnappers came for their son, Duke.

Robin and Abuse took care of it, it was the first recorded time that the masked kidnappers decided to target a specific target that wasn't an orphan or a runaway, infact, Duke's parents were plagued with worry once their son didn't return after curfew.

"Are all parents like this?" Colin murmured once the masked kidnappers were being taken away. Even if he was in his abuse form, the longing in his childish voice could easily be heard.

The thomases were talking to the officers, trying to describe the last time they saw their son (two hours ago) and how he went to study with his classmate Stephanie Brown.

"Not all of them." Damian answered, images of his own mothers ruthless training passed his mind. "Lets go, we must find that boy."

"Don't move but I saw another masked kidnapper." Damian said suddenly, not letting go of Colins shoulder.

Colin raised an eyebrow and clearly looked back at where Robin was looking. That scared off the hooded kidnapper and Damian growled slightly when the hooded girl fled away.

"You! Wait!" Robin shouted, following the girl in the hood through the streets and narrow alleys.

The chase was hard, she was trained fast and agile and parkouring came like a second nature to the boy based on the way she used all the trash bins and lights to her favor.

Eventually, Colin lost his temper and sent a hand shaped clay to the girls direction which knocked the hood off of her face. Revealing the face of a pre-teen girl with the blackest eyes Damian had ever seen.

He was glad his mask was recording everything.

The girl narrowed her eyes at them and fled, climbing a straight wall like it was nothing and stared down at the boys from the top before she disappeared into the night.

"She... Disappeared..." Colin murmured, struggling to come up with his breath after that long chase. "Did we... Lose her?"

Robin shook his head with a small smirk. "Tt. Now that we know what she looks like we can track her." he murmured. "Batcave will give us her last known locations and we can guess where she has visited the most."

==========

Fortunately, The batcave had detected her only a few blocks away. Only minutes ago she had sneaked inside an abandoned factory and an out of order ATMs camera managed to spot her.

Robin wasted no time, he grabbed Collins hand and told him to transform to his abuse form, because this time the girl was not going away.

Soon they were standing on top of the roof house, staring at the ground from the window on the roof and scanning whatever that was happening. Robin's plan was simple, they'd see who she was working with and according to what they see, they'll decide what to do.

But The hooded girl was just standing in the middle, staring at nothing and everything at once. Probably waiting for someone and not even bothering to sit down.

'Training' echoed in Damian's mind because that's how she was probably trained.

They didn't have to wait long, soon the door opened with a loud "screech" and two figures walked in. One in a purple costume and the other in a yellow hoodie.

Robin gripped his batarang with a frown, glancing at Colin from the side of his eyes but saying nothing. Abuse was also slowly transforming, readying himself for battle.

Spoiler walked in with another hooded person in toe. This time, the newcomer stepped forward and gently removed the hoodie to reveal the face of Duke Thomas, their so-called kidnapped minor.

"It's him!" Colin murmured, ready to jump down. Damian suddenly blocked his way with a hand. "Abuse wait." Robin murmured, looking down at the three younglings on the floor. Abuse stopped morphing and raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else.

"Wait." Robin insisted. "We have to know what they're doing."

On the ground, Cass waved his hands around. A language Robin recognised as the American sign language. Spoiler hummed and nodded.

"I don't know what you're saying exactly... But I told the batlings the address like you asked." Spoiler said, slowly pulling off her own mask. "And they found it. Does that mean you're clean, Cass?"

Cass, the girl in the hood, shook her head, pointing at the only boy in the room.

Duke shook his head violently, gently taking a step back. "I can't go back! Or they'll come after me, they probably know about my powers and our spoilery mission by now."

Spoiler rolled her eyes. "Probably?? They wanted to kidnap you!" he said loudly.

Robin gently tapped his mask and ran the face recognition program, scanning the girls facial features and unlike the other girl... She actually existed and her name was Stephanie Brown.

Duke shook his head violently. "We're getting sidetracked. There is something else." he said, voice echoing in the silence. "I had another vision. But it was somewhere around Washington and I don't know when."

Steph massaged the side of her face. "Well I don't know anything about Washington, I mean my _Pa_ only handles Gotham."

Robin narrowed his eyes and signalled Abuse to break the window, he did and they both jumped down. Robin landed gracefully on his feet while Colin used an extension as a rope and gently landed. "So that's how you know!" Colin accused, pointing his finger straight at Spoiler.

The two pre-teens were frozen on spot. Expect Cass who was in a fighting stance and calmly staring through Damian's soul.

Damian ignored her and looked over at the other two. Spoiler/Stephanie's hand was almost shaking and he was trying to hold her escrima stick as tightly as she can and cover Duke with her body.

Damian looked over at Duke's golden eyes. "We have a future-seer." Damian said and walked over to the younger boy, frown in place and voice unyielding. He suddenly turned around to face cass. "You are not a kidnapper. You are _protecting_ him from the kidnappers." Damian said as a matter of fact.

Cassandra looked up, black eyes shining with determination and will. She moved her hands in front of her face and it took a moment for Damian to notice she was signing to him.

'No one. Never again.' she meant. 'And I knew you weren't going to attack.'

Damian took a deep breath. "How." he demanded, walking closer to the girl in the hood.

She lifted a hand but stopped mid-air, looking right into Robin's mask before she slowly moved her fingers. 'I can read your body language.' she meant.

"Tt. And I suppose you did kidnap someone at some point?"

Cass dropped her hands and frowned at him. She only gave him a nod.

Robin turned back to stare at Spoiler. "And _you_ used us!" Damian said angrily, voice finally breaking out and pointing at the purple of her suit.

Spoiler raised her hands and took a step back. "Hey! I just wanted to do some good. My dad is one of the kidnappers so I'm more than glad to throw him in jail." she said as a matter of fact.

Robin was ready to burst, to scream at the three of them until Batman himself heard him somehow but Colin gently pulled him back by the shoulder. "Damian..." he murmured softly. "They were just trying to help."

Damain growled. "Tt. All They've done, is putting a mark on their heads." he hissed looking at the three of them. "And now they have no way out."

Stephanie huffed and crossed her arms. "We didn't come in here on our own accords. You see this guy--" Steph said nonchalantly, hitting Dukes chest. "Is my Classmate. After I saw his name next to _Pa's_ long list of 'to kidnap' I couldn't just sit by and do nothing. You see her?" Stephanie pointed at Cass, with a deep frown in place. "I saw her trying to kidnap the first person, I saw she didn't want it so I offered a chance to the three of us. Duke has visions of the future so he tells us what will happen. I check it forms Pas list, Cass stops it."

"So why did you tell us?" Colin asked gently, slowly letting go of Damians shoulder to hunch down next to the pre-teens.

"We saw you... And we were afraid they'd catch us so we thought if we just tell you, you'd take care of it... And then Duke became a target... You know the rest."

Damian robbed the side of his face, Why would these-- these children-- think they could just run around the dirty streets of Gotham? Why?

Damuan turned his batglare back at Duke. "What are your powers?" he demanded.

Duke swallowed and his eyes looked between Damians eyebrows instead of the lenses of his mask. "I can see the future and the past of locations, I can manipulate the light and make myself disappear... Steph says I can probably create hallucinations with my powers too but I've never tried it." he murmured.

Damian hummed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tt. That's not even close to what you need to defend yourselves from those kidnappers." he growled.

"We call them 'the dark' " Steph with a smile. "Because you know... They take the kids into _the dark_ "

Cass rolled her and Duke tried his best to keep a straight face.

"The dark..." Damian hummed. "Or whatever _will_ try to eliminate you. And you, the three of you, are in great danger."

"You're right, Robin... We can teach you how to survive." Colin offered, looking at each and everyone of them with a smile. "They are probably going to come after you again, you'll be in danger."

Colin threw his hands clumsily over Damians shoulders with a laugh. "We got ourselves a load of apprentices, Damian." Colin murmured.

Cass seemed unamused but Steph's jaw dropped. Duke gasped. "You will teach us??" Duke murmured with wide brown eyes. "Will you teach us?"

Damian rolled his eyes, pulling Collins hand off his shoulders. "of course No--"

"Of course yes." Colin beat him to it. Leaning down to look at the teens in the eyes. "You'll have to learn to protect yourselves don't you?"

Stephanie's jaw dropped and she stared at Robin's mask. "You will teach us??" she asked with a strange glint in her eyes.

Hope? Wonder? Robin didn't know.

He just growled in her response.

Stephanie cheered loudly, throwing her hands in the air and spinned around before she stopped to a halt. "Wait! Does that mean we can get bat related names? I wanna be BATGIRL!" Spoiler cheered loudly. She pointed at Cass and hopped a little. "You can be BlackBat. It suits your taste of clothes."

Cass frowned and looked at her costume once again, realising for the first time she was wearing black from head to toe.

Duke crossed his arms. "Hey! I thought of it first! I wanna be black bat." He argued, frowning at Stephanie.

She rolled her eyes. "What about... Uhm... bat-light." she said with a smile. "It even suits your powers."

Duke hummed thoughtfully and shrugged. "I like the ring of 'signal' better than bat-light."

Colin looked at them with a smile. Robin just growled and grabbed his elbows. "Abuse! A moment!" Robin murmured through gritted teeth, grabbed Abuse's arm way too tightly and pulled him away from the crowd of muttering younglings.

He pulled him through a wall until Abuses back hit the other wall and Damian crossed his arms, glaring down at him even if they were only inches apart. "What are you doing?" Robin hissed.

Collins brown eyes were soft, softer than usual. He smiled at Robin and said with a hushed tone: "Damian, they _need_ our help."

Robins frowns deepend. "Tt. We can't help them." he murmured and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I can barely teach you."

"You've done a very fine job up to this point." Colin murmured and gently put a hand on Robin's shoulder and squeezed. "We can at least try."

Robin just growled.

On the other side. Stephanie elbowed Cass to get her attention. "What are they doing??" Spoiler hushed slowly, muttering in her friend's ears.

"Yeah man, they look very... Secretive, eh?" Duke pointed in, leaning forward to whisper in their conversation.

Cass narrowed her eyes at the duo on the other side. 'Angry. Confused. Betrayed.' Cass signed. 'Robin doesn't know what to do.'

Duke shrugged. "Whatever they do, I just hope we turn out fine in the end." he murmured.

On the other side, Robin shrugged off Abuse's hand and nodded. They walked over and Robin glared at the three of them at once, "you don't need any teaching. Just be present when the two others come." Robin said as a matter of fact regarding Cass. She nodded.

"The two of you." Robin said with a frown. "Meet us on top of Wayne Tower at midnight, two days from now."

"But that's a school night--" Duke tried to say.

"Two nights from now." Robin insisted. Steph just elbowed the other boy in the. Shoulder.

"For now, go home."

The three stilled. "I didn't get it, can you rephrase that?" Duke murmured softly.

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Go _home_ " Robin hissed and shot his grappling gun, he flew away and Colin went away with a small salute at the three of them.

==========

Gotham City hall was an extraordinary place, perhaps the biggest hall of Gotham and was currently the host of Gotham's most influential families.

Which meant Damian and Bruce Wayne had to attend.

Their car was perhaps three blocks away and Alfred, bless him, left father and son in an expected silence.

Was His father too angry to talk? Too distracted? Damian truly didn't know.

All he could see from where he was resting his head against the car window was that Bruce was playing with his tie, fastening it and losing it several times before fixing his collar.

"You won't be able to choke yourself with that tie, Father" Damian said as a matter of fact, smirking against the window. "If I can't skip this party neither can you."

Bruce let go of his collar and stared at his son through his reflection at the window. "I'm sure you prefer putting preteens' lives in Danger than to come to a charity gala." He growled in his Batman voice, deep and rusky.

Damian rolled his eyes. "Firstly, that was Colins idea, not mine." Damian stated he shook his head, sitting upright. "But he isn't wrong, those children need to protect themselves."

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "And you thought bringing them into life will make that happen?"

"Tt. I don't want them in the life. They were already in the life, whether we acknowledge them or not." Damuan scuffed, crossing his arms. "But if we supervise them, they'll be suitable soldiers."

Alfred cleared his throat before Father had a chance to challenge his anger into coherent words. "Sir, we're here." the car pulled into a stop. And Bruce's door was about to be opened.

"This conversation isn't over." Bruce hissed before putting up his fake smile. Damian had to admit it was surreal how people that smile was actually real.

The door opened and Damians eyes were blurred by the extra light that came through and it didn't clear until he was safely inside. He followed his father's shadow and reached the main hall.

A kind woman offered to take him somewhere "more interesting for people his age" and Damian accepted, against Bruce's firm glare and the hand on his shoulder. His father didn't object but his eyes followed Damian until he was out of his sight.

The "more interesting place" was a kid-friendly version of the party in another party room with colorful lights and lots and lots of minors Damian didn't want to meet. At the beginning he found a red nametag and a marker that Damian was supposed to write his name on to make friends easier.

Damian passed it without a second glance.

He immediately went to see what those, kid friendly drinks were, nothing interesting. Damian rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the loud sound of laughter and dancing in the room.

Until someone bumped into him.

Damian turned around to confront the person. "Tt. Watch where you're--" he tried to say and his eyes landed on a familiar pair of dark grey eyes and black hair. Damian narrowed his eyes. He'd seen that face somewhere.

The boy robbed the back of his neck. "Oh, I'm so sorry." he said apologetically, not looking up to meet Damians eyes.

"Have we met before..." Damian murmured more like a statement than a question, his eyes fell down to the card on his suit. "Timothy Drake?" Damian read loudly. Tim froze on spot.

He awkwardly touched the back of his neck, almost dropping his pepsi. "Tim! Tim, yes, Why would you be... Expecting anyone different." he said with a faint laugh.

Damian raised an eyebrow, trying harder to remember Tims facial features. "Truly why?" he murmured.

Tim robbed the back of his neck. "Uhm I have to... Uhm... Go away!" Tim blurted out and ran off to seemingly nowhere. Damian's green eyes followed him as much as he could before he gave it up. Whatever that familiarity was, it wasn't important.

A few hours later, after thinking about different ways of sneaking out without being spotted. Damian's eyes landed on a very familiar face and this one he knew the name of.

Damian gritted his teeth. "Jonathan Kent." he hissed, walking up to the other teenager with a huge frown on his face.

Jon was wearing a new dark blue suit and his face was plastered with the usual smile he wore. The same easy smile that always melted every heart, even Damians stone cold one.

Jons shoulders fell and he let out a long sigh when he actually saw Damian. Jon blinked a few times and locked His eyes with Damians. "So you _can_ party." he murmured, raising the side of his mouth in an uncertain smile.

Damian smiled, which looked more like he was showing his teeth, and suddenly Damian grabbed Jons clothes and pulled him into a fake hug. Stilled for a moment and was seconds away from pushing the other boy away.

"Tt. The threats on your life weren't enough so you decided to triple them by walking right into Gotham." Damian murmured and let go of Jon's suit, slowly putting reasonable distance between them. "Will you ever grow up?"

Jon snorted and crossed his arms. "Both mom and dad are here and I thought I should say hello to Bruce." he explained, his cobalt blue eyes never Left Damians green ones, as if invisible strings held them together.

Damian put his hands in his pockets, looking back at the teenagers section once again. "Did you?" Damian managed to say. "Say hello to father?"

Jon hummed and nodded. "He sent me here. After you."

Damian chuckled. His green eyes found Jon once again. "He knew I was going to escape." he said as a matter of fact.

Jon raised an eyebrow. "Where?" he asked with surprise. "They'll notice you're gone."

Damian smirked, he gently brushed off Gothams dust off of Jons clearly new suit with a mocking smirk. "Now that you are in Gotham you may be of some use." Damian stated, completely ignoring Jons question. "That is, if you want to leave this boring social gathering."

Jon rolled his eyes and finished his cake before answering. "Depends."

Half of Damians face pulled into a smile and he gently grabbed his elbow and dragged him to an abandoned window, somewhere out of sight. Damian leaned over the double window and opened it, the slight breeze followed inside and Made Damian shiver slightly.

"I need to go somewhere. I will most likely need your flight to get inside of it easier." he said and jumped down the window.

While falling, he grabbed a bench and spinned around it, he let go and gracefully landed on his feet.

Jon shook his head and threw himself out, his levitating powers helped him land easier than Damian did but he still left a big tent on the ground.

Damian crossed his arms. "Still haven't mastered flight, I see." he said with a smirk and turned around to walk into the jungle.

Jon stood up and brushed off the dirt on his new suit. "Not as much as I'd like to, no." he growled and followed Damian into the trees.

The sound of their running echoed all around the jungles, coupled with the sounds of the winds dancing among the leaves.

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-"You have put me in an impossible position." Damian hissed. "I have no clue on how to train children."** _

_**-"Oliva is missing." Maps said simply. "Right after she told us about how Matches was acting suspicious and every time a kid disappeared, matches was the last person they talked to."** _

_**-Duke hummed. "Maybe they're teaching us patience?" he murmured thoughtfully, looking at the other two girls eyes to get their opinion. Cass didn't move from her spot, as if she was frozen and in another dimension. Steph just shrugged.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a kudos or a comment.
> 
> Next up: some adventure in Gotham academy.


	5. Behind the school walls.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian was never the best teacher. Lucky for him his father gives a hand when Damian fails to show up.

Nights and days came and went like nothing before and soon he was waiting for his "trainees" to come with Colin.

Colin had a small smile on his face, sitting on an air conditioning unit and happily dangling his feet over it and keeping the two sets of escrima sticks safely in his hands.

Robin was growling under his breath, leaning against the wall with arms crossed as he tried to push the memories of his own training out of his mind.

They heard Stephanie's laugh before they actually saw her, coming from the small door of Wayne tower roof.

Stephanie jumped out, holding her hands up with a big smile "Tada! We are here!" she cheered loudly. Duke followed quietly behind her and slowly waved with a faint smile on his face.

Cass followed silently after them, not one expression passed her face as she stood dutifully next to the others and nodded at the two of them.

Robin growled and stared at the ground, Colin jumped down the unit and smiled at them. "I'm glad you guys could make it." he murmured and ruffled Dukes coily hair, which made his fake laugh take a more realistic turn.

"Hey! Teacher!" Steph said loudly. "I've been dying for this night!"

Robin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest without looking up at them. Steph's face crumbled and she rolled her eyes.

Colin cleared his throat and smiled at the three. Gently he gave the two sets of escrima sticks to the other two. He handed The one with the yellow ribbon to Duke and the purple one to Stephanie.

Stephanie's eyes shone with a glint of surprise. "How did you know I wanted this?" she murmured quietly.

"I didn't." Colin whispered, pointing at Robin. "He did."

Robin uncrossed his arms and finally looked at the three of them, his eyes glaring at the pre-teens one after another. "You both seem to favor this weapon." he said as a matter of fact.

Steph nodded with a smile. "Yeah! Cass actually told us the basics and we both kinda liked it. Though... We liked different Variations of it." she said happily.

Robin rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why didn't you _fully_ train them?" he asked Cass under his breath, not even bothering to look up and see her shoulder shrug.

Robin took another deep breath. "Both of you, stand here, I want to see how much you know. At first, You will spare each other."

Stephs eyes glinted but Duke sighed heavily. She stood in her stance and pulled down her mask so that Duke could see her wide grin.

"Can you train us at least a little bit." Duke murmured incoherently, "Im so bad at this."

The smile on her face just grew. "Don't be a sore loser, Duke." she said loudly. "That's what the teacher is saying! Do as he says."

Duke's eyes widened even more and then stared at Robin, who gently shook his head. Duke gulped and steadily stood his fighting stance that Robin realised was wrong, his right foot was too far from his left and he stood too much of his wait on his right, clearly dominant, leg.

Colin gave both of them a thumbs up as Damian shouted: "begin!"

Steph, with her smile ever present, charged forward. Duke managed to block her first blow but she rapidly hit him across the opening on his chest and stomach and then, she landed a harsh kick on his shoulder that knocked him off balance. Duke landed on his back, which knocked the breath out of him.

"Yas!!!" Steph cheering, jumping up and down.

Colin gently kneeled down to help Duke stand up. Duke robbed the side of his face where it was previously hit. Duke rubbed his coily hair and looked up. Colin couldn't help but notice Duke's eyes were growing gold and brown at a rapid pace.

Steph threw her hands in the air, looking at Robin's frown with a happy wide smile. "How was that? Teacher." she murmured happily. "I won the match right?"

A faint smile passed Cass' lips. Slowly, Robin shook his head. "This fight isn't over." he murmured and hinted at Duke with his head, who was standing with wide, golden eyes.

A smirk passed Dukes lips. "I can fight, Don't worry, Abuse." he said before Colin even opened his mouth or landed his hand on his shoulder.

Everyone got the memo, it was Stephs turn to be on edge. "Im ready." Duke murmured, in his previous faulty stance but this time he was confident and stern. His eyes turned completely golden as he glanced into the near future.

"Begin."

This time Steph attacked without her smile or the surging confidence and Duke easily blocked every offense with ease. Every one of Stephs blows was blocked by Duke's escrima sticks.

Duke was tiring her out.

And he managed to do that flawlessly.

With the help of his meta-powers he charged forward and managed to land heavy blows that eventually threw her across the roof.

Colin flinched at the heavy sound of Steph's fall. He ran over and helped her stand up on his feet, Steph angrily shrugged off his hand and turned to Robin.

"Hey, It's not fair! He knows my next move before I even think of it." Steph said loudly and threw her escrima sticks away, it loudly cluded against the roof of Wayne tower. "That's not fair!"

The side of Duke's face pulled into a smirk and he swung the eskrima stick in his right hand. "Me-ta powers!" she said with a click of a tongue. "That's my only advantage over you Steph."

The roof fell into silence, the only thing filling it was Stephs heavy breathing, who stepped forward and smacked Duke across the shoulder. Duke just laughed. "Don't be a sore loser, Steph." he mocked.

Robin cleared his throat, three sets of eyes landed on his serious face as he walked the remaining distance over to Duke. "Although acceptable..." Robin narrowed his eyes. "...That isn't always a reliable advantage." he said as a matter of fact before he gently pushed Steph away.

Steph took a deep breath and brushed off the dirt from her suit and walked over to stand next To Cass and Colin, eagerly watching what happened next.

Robin had no weapons on, his hands rested next to his body and he glared at Duke's eyes as he murmured: "charge."

Duke raised an eyebrow. "You have no weapons and I can already see what you'll do in two seconds." Duke said as a matter of fact.

Robin just narrowed his eyes, mouth pulling into a smirk. "That is my problem, and your advantage." he said clearly. "Now, _Charge_."

Duke merely shrugged as he attacked. Landing a blow where Robin was supposed to be the weakest.

But Robin blocked his blow, Duke hadn't seen that one in his vision. Not because it wasn't there but because Duke was so busy trying to find where to attack why he was supposed to be looking for where Robin couldn't block.

In that moment of being stunned, he failed to recognise Robin had found an opening and landed a punch on Dukes stomach, sending him back several feet.

"You can see the future. It's admirable." Robin said as he nonchalantly fixed his uniforms sleeve. "But you don't know what to _look_ for when you're battling an expert. And as long as you use those powers you will never learn."

Duke could see Robin charging forward and attacking him, he could see himself being punched in the gut.

Which is what exactly happened. Robin charged, Duke blocked his first punch with his escrima sticks, successfully avoiding the punch, but then Robin grabbed one of the sticks and spinned it out of Duke's hold.

Robin stood there with triumph and spinned the single eskrima stick in his right hand, smirking at Duke. "Do you see what I mean?" he asked. Duke was too shocked to talk.

"Go Robin!" Steph cheered, which got her an elbow in the shoulder from Cass.

Duke stood on his stance and Robin charged. Duke blocked all of his blows but Robin's attacks were going faster and faster by the moment, at the rate that Duke had problems _seeing_ it.

Until one of them hit it across the chest. "You're lucky it's me." Robin said automatically, landing another one while Duke was still in shock. The escrima sticks were child-sized and wouldn't actually hurt anybody. But Robin charged with anger in his eyes anyways.

"You rely too much on your power."

Another hit, another block.

"And if you want to fight!"

Slash.

"You have to--"

Block.

"Be--"

Slash.

"The--"

Slash

" **Best** "

And just like that, Robin's stick slid through thin air.

Duke was there a moment ago, but now, with a small glitch of reality, he was gone, nowhere to be seen. Robin narrowed his eyes, spinning around and looking for Duke's figure.

He was nowhere.

_"Uh, guys? Why did you stop?"_

That was Duke's voice that followed around. Damian growled, putting the yellow eskrima stick on the ground.

Steph raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Cass. "Uh, Duke." she murmured. "I think you've disappeared."

A sound of "What?" followed by a smack on Stephs head snapped the attention towards them. "Hey!" Steph said loudly, hitting random hair, hoping it would hit Duke. A sound of laughter echoed on the roof.

Colin suppressed a laugh and looked at Steph and Cass. "Duke, are you here?" he asked.

"Yeah! You guys really can't see me?"

Colin shook his head. "No and we'd be very happy if you turned visible again." he said with a smile.

"Yeah... About that..."

Steph rolled her eyes. "You can't turn back visible, Can you?" she asked thin air. Her hood was forcefully shoved down on her head, making her hair untidy. "Hey! Stop that!" Steph shouted, pulling the hood off and trying to tidy her long blonde hair again. "Why don't you bother Cass some more?"

Before anything could happen, Colin cleared his throat and held out an open palm. "I might be able to help." Colin said with a smile. "Come here Duke, and take my hand."

A few footsteps came until they stopped right in front of Colin.

"Come on, take my hand." Colin murmured and slowly felt the shift of the air as a heavy pressure landed on his open palm, Duke had accepted the hand and that made Colin smile.

"Now." Colin murmured, gently holding Duke's hand. "Steady your breathing with me, we're trying to calm you down."

"I'm _completely_ calm."

Colin shook his head gently. "You may be invisible, but I can still hear your voice and feel your heartbeat through your hands. You can calm down further." he murmured. "Now breath with me. In..." Colin took a deep breath, taking in as much air as he could.

"Out." and he exhaled for three more seconds. He could hear Duke doing the same.

"In."

"Out."

"In..."

Duke slowly started to materialize, it was faded at first but his figure slowly turned solid. His yellow hoodie and dark skin was the first thing that could be seen in the darkness above the roof.

Colin smiled softly. "Out..." he murmured. "See, controlling your meta-powers are easy when you're calm."

Duke opened his eyes and stared at his hands. "it worked?" he murmured, not quite believing it himself.

Steph walked forward and hit the back of his neck. "Yes" she said with a smirk. "You're visible."

Colin let go of Duke's hand. His brown eyes moved up to find Damian behind that Robin mask, but to his surprise, he didn't find him.

Colin pressed his mouth to a thin line. "Where's robin?" he murmured to no one and every one. The three looked around.

The only answer he got was silence.

##

Robin immediately jumped off his motorcycle and went out of the batcave. Robin stumped his feet until he reached his room. Broadcasting his existence very loudly.

Robin ripped his domino mask off his face and threw the mask away when he climbed the stairs to the bedrooms. Damian angrily ripped his robin costume and threw every piece of it around the manor until he reached the second floor with nothing left except his training suit he wore under the robin costume.

His eyes were too narrow and his focus was too much on his troubling thoughts to realise Father was coming from the opposite direction, holding a mug of coffee and reading his reports from Wayne enterprises.

"How did it go?" Bruce asked without looking up from his files. He took a sip waiting for Damians reply and received no answer as Damian growled, went to his room and slammed the door shut.

"He is quite angry I see." Alfred said with an eyebrow raised. Bruce looked up from his files to stare at Damian's closed door.

"I think I know why."Bruce sighed and took a long sip from his mug. "Why can't he just get along with people?"

Alfred raised an eyebrow, "he takes after you too much, sir." he said as a matter of fact. "But I believe he would appreciate your help more than your ignorance."

Bruce stared into Alfred's eyes and hummed thoughtfully. "I'll think about it." Bruce murmured as he stepped away, walking to his office.

##

Damian was enjoying his lunch in peace when Colin appeared out of nowhere and pulled the chair in front of him, a hesitant smile on his face. "Hey, why are you avoiding me." Colin asked before Damian had the chance to pick up his tray of food and leave.

Damian stopped eating his mac-n-cheese and quietly cleaned the side of his mouth. "I'm not avoiding you." he said as a matter of fact, not even looking up at Colin's brown eyes. "But I have a class to attend to--"

"See! You're avoiding me!" Colin said loudly. "Damian we have the next class together, about an hour from now."

Damian cursed inwardly, frowning and finally looking Colin in the eyes. "Your observation skills have improved." he said as a matter of fact as he dropped his tray back on the table.

Colin ignored it, he took a deep breath and let Damian sit down completely before he asked the million dollar question. "Is it about Steph and Duke?"

Damian raised an eyebrow. "Maybe your observation skills haven't improved that much."

"Damian..."

"Don't _Damian_ me, Wilkes"

"They are fine, if anything, you helped Duke tap into his powers."

Damian growled, eyes burning into Colin's. "You have put me in an impossible position." Damian hissed. "I have no clue on how to train children."

"That's not my fault." Colin murmured softly."Can't you just... I don't know... Redo what your mentors did?"

Damian's grip on his fork tightened and his green eyes looked up at Colin's with a sick disgust. "No." he spat out, he picked up his tray and stood up. His fork fell down but he didn't care, he picked up his food and left Colin alone behind the table.

He walked out of the dinning hall and walked to the yard, there was a deep feeling in his mind that told him to stay away from Colin until further notice. He just didn't want his eyes to fall back on his face. Which made him take the fastest route to the main Gotham Academy building. The one made in the 1800s.

Unfortunately, Colin followed.

Damian growled under his breath and realised Colin wasn't going to this inevitable conversation slide.

"Damian, wait!"

Damian didn't think, he just walked down the giant staircases into the school's oldest tower and paid no mind to the questioning look the staff was giving him.

And Colin followed suit.

Damian burst open the doors of a seemingly empty room titled, "meeting room" at first glance it was an empty space with worn out brick walls and a table with the style of the 20th century.

"Damian stop!"

It took Damian a moment to notice they were alone in the room, perhaps if it wasn't for the loud echo of Colins footsteps, he wouldn't have noticed they were alone. Damian finally stopped and turned around, glaring at Colin until he could reach him.

Colin was breathing heavily now, he stopped at Damian's arm's length and stopped to breathe. "look." Colin breathed out, "I'm so sorry. I just... I didn't want to put you under pressure."

Damian narrowed his eyes. "Go away, If you haven't guessed, I want to be alone right now."

Colin opened his mouth to talk but he shut it immediately, his eyes were full of mixed emotions that Damian couldn't quite read. "Ok..." he mumbled, looking away. "I'll... Get going."

Damian narrowed his eyes as Colin turned around and walked away. After his first two steps an echoing sound got their attention, something like a pen falling down from the darkest parts of the meeting room.

Slowly, Damian stepped forward and pushed Colin behind him, shielding him from the coming noise. Colin raised an eyebrow. Damian didn't budge, "Show yourself." he demanded of the footsteps.

A feminine voice came from the other side and then a petite girl stepped forward, with mushroom cut black hair and standard Gotham Academy uniform. She was clutching a notebook to her chest and holding a pink flashlight in her hand.

She stared into their eyes, one after another before she awkwardly waved. "Hi, what are you two doing here?" she murmured.

"tell us why you're lurking in the dark." Damian hissed. She stepped back, ready to flee.

"Or more specifically, how you appeared out of thin air." Colin murmured with awe. "Are you a... Meta?"

She clutched the notebook closer to herself. " _No_." she murmured.

"That sounds a lot like what a meta would say."

"No! And I have to go."

Damian blocked her way, she stopped midway and Damian delivered q batglare of his own. "You sound very suspicious." he said as a matter of fact.

She swallowed and tried to keep up with Damians glare. "Suspicious... Of what?" she murmured back. "Get out of my way" her voice was uncertain and bitter. She made sure to bump into Damian as she found her way to the opposite hall.

"Fine." Damian growled, watching Maps go as she pleased. "Keep your secrets and we'll tell the teachers what you're up to."

She stopped immediately. "You can't tell them anything!" she said loudly, turning around to look at them. "They'll stop me!"

"From doing what?" Colin said calmly, diverting the attention to himself. "We can help you, or else we have to tell you."

"Ah! Fine, people call me Maps. My best friend, Oliva, is missing." Maps said simply. "Right after she told us about how Matches was acting suspicious and every time a kid disappeared, matches was the last person they talked to."

Damian pressed his mouth to a thin line. "And what are you doing?"

"Duh! I'm looking for her! They can't sneak her out of school until night when school officially closes down, or else they'd he spotted. I searched all the public places and even private places and she wasn't there. So I'm looking at the _hidden_ areas of school."

Colin raised an eyebrow. "Hidden?" he murmured with surprise.

Maps nodded with a smile. "I found the school maps. And I found some missing spots. Last year, I followed all the loopholes and drew an accurate map of the school." she murmured, slowly showing them the case of her book. "This notebook has all the hidden ways and passes and even a dungeon in the---"

"There is a _dungeon_?"

Damian elbowed Colin, spotting him asking further questions.

"Yes." maps said hesitantly. "And that's the last and hardest part to find."

Damian hummed thoughtfully. Looking at Maps and just realising her dust covered uniform and slight faded parts of her uniform that looked new. What was hidden in the ancient palace of Gotham Academy. Damian was curious to know. His mouth pulled into a smile.

"Can I go now? I'm on the clock." Maps said loudly.

"You're running in circles and don't know where to go." Damian said as a matter of fact. "And I happen to be a great detective."

Maps huffed and crossed her arms. "Detective yeah?" she murmured softly, eyeing Damian with curiosity.

Damian cleared his throat. "Your real name is Mia. You have slight bruises under your wrist which means you spend a lot of time behind a table, studying, most likely. You are from northern Gotham guessing by the slightly faded tan of your skin. You travel alot and currently have a temporary tattoo in the shape of a butterfly on your left elbow."

Maps almost dropped her notebook. "How do you know?" she murmured. Damian gave her a half smile, but didn't offer any words.

Maps gulped, itching the place where the temporary tattoo is supposed to be. "Ok... Fine..." Maps murmured, "the maze to the dungeon starts in the abandoned bathrooms. lead the way, Mr.detective."

Damian smirked. He tried to ignore the confused looks Colin was giving him. For the first time that day, he was eager for something.

This boring School really thought he could keep something hidden from Damian didn't it?

##

A few hours later, on top of Wayne tower, three costumes children waited for the Abuse and Robin to arrive. Unbeknownst to them, they'll never come that night.

Cass sat on an air conditioning unit, eyes lost in the beauty of the stars that were for once visible in Gothams sky. Steph was playing with her set of keys.

Duke however, was pacing around. He hadn't had a new vision since last night, or a lapse in his power. Abuse and Robin were always on time, now it had been an hour since their appointed time and they still hadn't arrived.

Duke turned to Steph. "Do you think something happened?" he murmured. "Do you think they got... Eaten by dracula or something."

Steph chuckled. "Come on, relax." Steph murmured, spinning her keys in her fingers, leaning against the wall with a lazy smile on her face. "They're just late!They'll show up eventually."

Duke hummed. "Maybe they're teaching us patience?" he murmured thoughtfully, looking at the other two girls' eyes to get their opinion. Cass didn't move from her spot, as if she was frozen and in another dimension. Steph just shrugged.

"Patience is a valuable virtue, but they aren't trying to teach you anything. In fact.. They won't be coming here tonight."

Steph jumped out and stood next to Duke, horrified at the new sound that came. Cass barely moved when a Dark figure landed on the roof, slowly rising to form the shape of the famed Batman.

"Holy scary shadows, it's Batman." Steph blurted out. Within a blink of an eye Duke's eyes had turned golden, but his rigid posture softened a little and was satisfied. "Wow!" left his mouth.

Batman took a step into the light. The detailed armor he wore was even more mesmerizing up close. The ever present frown on his face and the famous batglare was aimed at the two of them. Steph wanted to scream and leave but Duke... Was surprisingly calm and controlled.

"Don't worry Steph!" Duke said with a smile. His golden eyes shining in the darkness. "He's not here to scold us!"

Steph raised an eyebrow, she turned around to see Cass coming up to them. Steph silently pleaded with her eyes to say something. Cass was an excellent body language reader after all. Cass nodded blankly.

Steph felt some of that tension leave her body behind. "If you're not here to eat us then why are you here for?" she asked.

If that was even possible, Duke's eyes shone with more golden light than it was before. Slowly it dimmed low and turned back brown. "Train us." he said with a laugh. "He's here to train us!"

Stephs mouth dropped. She pointed her finger at Batman. "Batman!" she shouted. "Wants to train _us_?"

Batman growled. "I see robin's report about your powers are true." Batman said as a matter of fact. "Normally I wouldn't allow meta's in my city--"

Duke looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. "Batman I--"

"This time I'll make an exception." Batman said as a matter of fact. The lenses on his cowl tore his gaze from Duke to focus on Cassandra, who was still stoic and emotionless. "You have your own training." Batman growled. "With me, _separate_ from these two."

Cassandra nodded, understanding how dangerous it might be if he was put against Duke and Cass when they're still amateurs.

Batman could read the insecurity and doubt in Cassadnras mind, and Batman knew the underdeveloped self control and the ever present desire to kill installed on her in an early age was hard to break, hard not impossible, but that required different training away from the other two.

Batman was glad she understood all that.

Batman's heavy footsteps took him to the other side. Duke and Steph exchanged a look before they hesitantly stood in a fighting stance.

"Let's see what Robin has taught you." Batman said loudly, turning around to see the two. "Duke, remind me to work on your stance."

A look of fascination crossed Stephs eyes. "Oh my God, it's really batman..." she murmured repeatedly, if it wasn't for the upcoming fight, she would have bounced up and down.

"Charge." Batman demanded, "let's see what you got."

##

Damian was getting impatient. Maps led them to a complicated maze, made with worn out brick walls and that were covered with clay.

If the situation wasn't so dire, Damian would have asked Colin to try to see if he can control that clay as well. But they couldn't, not in front of Maps.

Colin never let them live down the reality that it's been four hours since they stepped inside the maze and the school was most likely closed.

When they finally reached the end of the maze, they were greeted by a metal door, rusted on some spots and covered with runes in latin.

Damian and Maps closely inspected the wall and its lock, trying to find the right combination to open it.

Colin leaned against the stone walls and gently slid down on the secret pathway and sat on the ground. "We've been in this maze, _for hours_." Colin breathed out. "Why is there a maze in our school?"

Maps hummed thoughtfully, trying to read the Roman written on the top of the superb wooden door in front of her. Damian brushed his hands on the hand drawn wooden door with admiration, if this wasn't their only way inside, he would have admired the paint and the patterns.

The door had a lock, like a safebox, but instead of numbers it had latin words and Maps was trying her best to test every combination.

"How old is Gotham academy again?" Colin murmured, rushing a hand through his red hair. "And why does it have a maze leading to a dungeon?"

Maps huffed loudly. "Do us a favor and ask the founders of the school when you meet them." she murmured clicking in the next possible password. "The dungeon has three doors, one of it can only be assessed by outside, one of them opens to the teachers room and this is the third one. They built the maze just in case that if anyone escaped the dungeons he couldn't escape the school that easily."

Colin stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes. "Why don't I like the idea of our school having a dungeon in the first place?" he murmured.

Maps just shrugged.

With one last switch of the puzzles, the lock fell down with a loud, it cracked and almost broke in half when it landed next to Damians feet.

wheels turned and a loud screeching voice reached their ears as the ancient door slowly opened in front of them. They exchanged a look with each other, none of them daring to get inside the dark room where they couldn't exactly see what was going on.

Damian snatched the light from Maps hand and watched the insides of the room, all he could see were a few metal doors located closely around each other in a circle.

"Who's there?"

The foreign voice echoed between them. Damian's eyes widened and he looked at the source of it, the middle door.

Maps bumped into him as she ran all the way to the door. "OLIVA!" Maps cheered and ran all the way to the cell.

"Maps!" the person over the wall stumbled and fell but quickly stood up. A girl with tanned skin and big curly hair appeared, seemingly not bruised.

"Oliva! I'll get you out!" Maps murmured, pulling the lock on Olivas cell, the smile fell when she realised it was a modern lock, with a key neither of them possessed.

Oliva looked back at Colin and Damian, who were standing a few feet back. "Ah, Maps, who are those?" she asked, letting her hand hang out from the bars. "Never mind, Maps, listen! I know what Matches is up to. He is taking blood samples from the kids that disappear for like an hour."

"Blood samples!!!?"

Damian elbowed Colin and glared at him. He wanted to ask Oliva what was this all about when Maps screamed and turned around. "This is useless! I can't get the lock out."

Damian rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh, this is not going the way he was expecting it to. "Colin." Damian said simply, hinting at the metal door with his head.

Colins eyes darted around, he bit his lip and eyed the metal door suspiciously. "But--"

"It's her only way out. We can't afford to go back without her." Damian murmured, his serious eyes never leaving Colin's. "And as you always say... You can at least try."

"Try what?" Oliva and Maps said at the same time.

Colin took a deep breath and walked the way to the metal door. He held the lock in his hand, weighing it for a moment before his hands morphed into clay and engulfed the lock completely.

Maps took a step back, horrified eyes looked at Oliva (who was just as shocked) to Damian who hushed him immediately. "Not one one." Damian hissed. "To _anyone_."

Maps closed her mouth and nodded.

Colin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the lock cracked in his hand and the pieces fell to the ground. Colin gently opened the door with a smile.

Oliva hesitantly stepped out before she jumped into Maps embrace, pulling her best friend as close as she could.

Colin smiled at them, he glanced over at the insides of the dungeon and his blood ran cold and his mouth fell open. He quickly looked over at Maps and Damian, head going back and forth. "Why are there shackles in the hidden dungeon of our school?" he asked loudly.

Maps closed her eyes and broke the embrace. "Come on, let's go." she murmured. "We gotta give our reports to the police."

"Maps." Damian said sternly, his green eyes piercing into hers. "Not a word of our involvement. You found this place alone and rescued Oliva on your own."

Maps opened his mouth to argue but then took a deep breath and nodded. She grabbed Olivas hand and pulled her through the maze, not once looking back.

"No one has answered me yet!"

Damian grabbed Colin's elbow and pulled him up the stairs, one step after another. "Move now, questions later." he said as he pulled a struggling Colin out of the maze.

When they found their way out of the school and the night sky greeted them. Both of them knew they were hours late to their appointment with Duke, Steph and Cass but neither of them said anything. they could hear police sirens in the distance. Colin and Damian ran as fast as they could until they were a few blocks away, hiding in the narrow streets.

"Do you think they'll really forget we were there?" Colin whispered.

Damian smiled. He tossed something and Colin grabbed it. He opened his palm to see the same lock he'd destroyed with his power. "The important thing is that we left no evidence behind." Damian said as a matter of fact.

Colin laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

##

Damian left for his usual Robin business early on. Colin decided to sneak inside the orphanage just in case one of the nuns came after him. She did, and Colin assured him she was in his room the entire time.

A few hours later Colin sneaked out, making sure that the destroyed lock was safely in his pocket.

At the Robins nest, Colin thought he was alone. in the semi-darkness of the underground hideout, Colin put the locker on the shelf as his first souvenir with a smile on his face.

A small thought crossed his mind and Colin decided to go for it. He took a deep breath and raised his right hand. He'd never done something like that but he felt like he was ready to try.

His right hand molded into clay before swiftly moving and shifting, creating two small figures next to each other. Slowly taking understandable figures. Colin handed the small statue to his other hand and disconnected the clay statue from his right hand.

It was now a statue, one of him and Damian, fully in his robin costume.

Colin gently put the dried statue on the empty case with a faint smile on his face.

Good thing he brought his coloring palet.

Colin was lost in his own thoughts and his desire to quickly paint the statue quickly. He ran a hand through his red hair and seriously considered pottery as a possible career.

Colin was so lost in his thoughts he didn't know he wasn't alone. Colin pulled out the key to the Gatham Academies Dungeons, still feels awkward about how there are literal dungeons under his school.

"Colin."

Colin jumped away, the key fell down with a loud click.

Colin took a deep breath and laughed. "You should really stop doing that." he said and looked over at the shadows, where the outlines of a figure could be seen.

Damian stepped out of the shadow, fully in his Robin colors except his mask. "Maps and Oliva told the police they did it alone. Matches was apparently an agent for... The dark... That worked to find potential metahumans in the higher ranks of Gotham without the need of kidnapping the children. Thankfully neither of their tests came out positive so no one was kidnapped." Damian said as a matter of fact. "What are you doing?"

"I decided to collect souvenirs, just because." he murmured softly. "It's the first of many, I hope."

"Why?"

"Well, our Robin's nest should be a little homey so..."

Colin's eyes widened. He suddenly turned around. "Don't look at the case! It's not finished yet." he yelled but it was too late, Damian was already standing next to the small statue in the glass case. Colins hand froze in the air. "Don't judge it, I still have to color it."

Damian's hand hovered above the glass case, eyes lost for a moment. Almost saying:"I didn't know you could make such a thing" but Damian immediately looked away and crossed his arms. "Tt. I've seen better." he huffed.

Coming here was a mistake. Damian turned around to leave but Colins hand on his Shoulder stopped him. He could Hear Colin take a deep breath behind him and Damian looked over his shoulder, staring into Colins brown eyes.

"Look, I don't think I ever really apologized for... Convincing you to train Steph and Duke." He said in one breath. "So... I'm sorry."

Damian glanced back to see his friend with a smirk. "Good for you, your Apology is accepted."

"Really? That easy?"

"Tt. Father has agreed to train them." Damian crossed his arms. "Or else..."

Colin's mouth pulled to a smirk. "I know, I know I'm very lucky."

Damian smiled and shrugged off Colin's hand from his shoulder. "I'd like to stay and chat but father has called me." Damian said as a matter of fact. "I have to leave."

"I'll follow you out."

The motorcycle way was the newest addition to their hideout, a way out with two motorcycles, the Robin-cycle and Colin's cycle which didn't have a name.

Damian picked up his helmet, checking it and the motorcycle and making sure everything was in place. Suddenly Colin cleared his throat, Damian just glanced at him from the side of his eyes.

"Ok, I'm gonna say something wierd but don't you think Maps was kind of... _Beautiful_? Attractive?"

Damian almost dropped the helmet, he raised his head to look at Colin's tomato red face with a raised eyebrow. "Maps?" he said with disgust. "No."

Colin rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. Fingers slightly twitching and relaxing. "Anyway, I'm going to talk to her! Maybe she likes Dono's Ice cream." Colin murmured softly.

Damian growled and then rolled his eyes. "Tt. Dono's Ice cream. I thought that was our place."

"Hey, it has wonderful Ice creams and it's going out of business, I have to help the man from time to time...So what Am I supposed to tell her?"

"I wouldn't know."

"You probably have more experience in this than I do."

Colin huffed. "You're around parties all the time.You can't tell me you've never talked to a girl." Colin joked. "You know... Actually talk and befriend?"

Damian just hopped on his bike and hit Colin across the shoulder. Colin's smile dropped immediately. "Oh my god, I think you haven't."

Damian said nothing, he just rolled his eyes.

" _You haven't_!"

"I never wanted to."

Colin hummed thoughtfully, robbing his chin as a small joke. "Well technically speaking you were with the league of assassins for most of your life, and then you were isolated here in Gotham. I doubt there were many girls in The league... Not that it would--"

"Cut it out, Wilkes." Damian growled. "Say what you want about the shadows... But The league of assassins training stage was unisex. Not that there's anything _that_ intresting about the other sex eitherway."

Colin chuckled and Hit Damians shoulder. "You mean to tell me you've hit a girl?" he said with a mocking laugh.

Damian rolled his eyes. "I would have been beaten almost to the death by my trainees if I didn't, some of whom were female." he stated, finally putting on his helmet And fixing the straps. "Why are you asking me these useless questions?"

Colins face pulled into a grin. "No reason." he murmured and Damian just growled.

Damian stared at Colin's mischievous eyes from the glass of his helmet. "Do you want to go to the orphanage with me?"

"I'll just walk." Colin said with a smile and gave a playful salute. "Just Don't get in trouble with your old man."

Damian hummed and turned on his robincycle with a nod, he rushed out of the cave on top gear, leaving Colin in the dusts.

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-Iris shrugged. "I was supposed to babysit my dad. Granma called and canceled." she said and cracked a smile. "It was my dad's fifth birthday yesterday, it all still feels strangely weird."** _

_**-"No!" Batman shouted, storming to the teleporters, ignoring the four teenagers behind him. He stepped into the platforms and turned back to see the teenagers. "You will stay put."** _

_**-"Damian!" Jon interrupted harshly, his cape flying in the air when he suddenly turned around. He held his palm against the S symbol on the compartment that held the clone. "Set him free, I'm not leaving without him."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I know this was more of a filler than anything and it was frustrating for me to write but anyway were over it now!
> 
> Next chapter: Iris went II and some adventure with some new version of young justice!


	6. Against the Justice League

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin goes against the league with Colin, Jon and Iris west II to investigate Cadmus labs.
> 
> They find interesting things.

When superman mentioned the party, Jon didn't give it much thought. He assumed he'd just go and enjoy the exotic food from all over the galaxy and maybe, _maybe_ play a few pranks along the way with the help of Iris West's superspeed.

Jon and his parents materialized in the watchtower and were immediately overwhelmed by the loud sounds of the disco. The moment Superman and Lois went over to talk with their peers. Jon bolted away to find Iris, thousands of pranks already forming in his brain.

Not surprisingly, he found her behind the desert section, trying to eat as much as she possibly could.

Jon couldn't help but notice Iris had cut her hair short. unlike always she was wearing red baggy clothes and her green eyes glued to Jon's when he arrived.

Iris had gulped all the ice cream by the time Jon arrived with the rest of his family. Iris zoomed in when Superman and Lois went over to the adults for some gossip.

"Hi Iris." Jon raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you'd be late!?"

Iris shrugged. "I was supposed to babysit my dad. Grandma called and canceled." she said and cracked a smile. "It was my dad's second birthday yesterday, it all still feels strangely weird."

Jon chuckled. "That happens when you accidently time travel without caution, Iris."

"Well, you know it has good stuff! Like I knew you... I mean _adult_ -you before I tapped the time and also most of these people." Iris chuckled. "You lose hair, did you know that?"

Jon touched the top of his hair and glared down on Iris's narrow green eyes.

Iris laughed loudly and hit Jon's shoulder. "I'm just messin' with you." she laughed and then she slowly turned around and pointed at the other side. "But I seriously don't know who those people are. The red head and Mr.sunglasses, I mean."

Jon glanced back to see who she meant, he was shocked to see "Mr.sunglasses" was actually Damian, dressed in civvies and sunglasses as a poor attempt at keeping his ID a secret from people who didn't know. The redhead one... He didn't know who he was personally, but he'd seen the files. He was wearing a total black training clothes that shifted with his shafe-shifting.

"Oh, I know." Jon said and gripped her elbow, pulling her to follow. "Come on."

Iris followed with a small "yelp", trailing after him with a load of chocolate.

Damian's face crumbled the moment he saw Jon in the crowd. He was peacefully having a small conversation with Colin when he saw Jon with the time traveler. He growled, Colin's smile dropped when he looked back to see what had killed the mood.

"Here they come." Damian murmured, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Who?" Colin whispered.

"Trouble."

Jon approached both of them with a mocking smile on his face, Iris following quickly. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the great son of the Batman?"

Iris choked on his chocolates. Her wide eyes darted between Jon and Damian and a part of the chocolates she was holding fell down. She pointed a shaking hand at Damian. "this is Damian Wayne?" she said, too loud.

Damian glared at her, hitting her hand away. "You need a mega phone to announce that?" he growled. "Being from the future doesn't give you the right to give out our secrets, West."

"That's the Damian Wayne I know..." Iris hummed, tilting her head and scanning him from head to toe. "You look... Shorter... Than what Jon described. Aren't you like 15??" she hummed.

"Hey! How about you introduce me to these people, Damian." Colin murmured and held out a hand in front of Damian to stop him from charging forward. Iris was faster as she zoomed away to hide behind Jon. "I don't know these people..."

Damian stepped back, fixing the hem of his shirt. "Im 16." he said as a matter of fact.

Iris nodded and slowly came out of hiding behind Jon.

"Kent, West." Damian said and cleared his throat. "Meet Colin, or Abuse."

Jon extended a hand with a small smile. "Nice to finally meet you..."

"Colin is just fine. This code-name stuff is too confusing anyways. Nice to meet you," Colin accepted their handshake with a hint of a smile. His brown eyes locked with Irises green ones. "I hope it's not rude to ask if you're really from the future?" he asked.

"Yup," Iris said, emphasizing on the P. "I'm really from the future."

"Can you like..." Colin murmured, tilting his head slightly. "...Tell us something?"

"I really shouldn't, not that I know anything.. My God-father always made sure I don't find out much about superheroes or their secret ID... Now I know why."

"To avoid the future being spoiled." Damian crossed his arms. "This God-father of yours was a wise person."

A faint smile passed her lips. "You'd be surprised." she murmured. "In fact, he's your---"

Her spoiler was interrupted by a loud cry of the alarms. The leaguers didn't waste a second to evacuate the party room.

The four of them exchanged a look. "We're not going to sit here and wait, are we?" Colin asked with a huge knowing smile.

"Of course not!" Iris pointed out and zoomed away, the other three followed her closely behind.

There was a heated argument along the leaguers until Superman ordered everyone to their responsibility. The league spread around, everyone using their own teleporters to go to their spot, until it was only superman and Batman left on the main halls.

Damian narrowed his eyes and approached his father nonchalantly, clearing his throat to get the man's attention.

Superman and Batman both turned to him. One with a smile, one with a frown.

"I was wondering what this was about?" he asked seriously.

Batman turned back to the computers at hand. "Two emergencies at once. A fire in Cadmus labs- that I've wanted to investigate for some time- and a sorcerer trying to block the sun."

"Don't worry." Superman said with his usual hope, his eyes left Damian to smile on Jon. "The justice league can forget about a lab and focus on the sun."

Batman growled under his breath. "Lets go." he ordered. Abandoning the computers and turning back to face the teleporters.

"I can investigate Cadmus if it's so important."

The offer stunned Batman and he slowly turned around to fix his eyes with his sons. "No." he said simply.

"Father, Me and Colin can help!" Damian said matter of factly, not looking away from his fathers batglare.

"Father??" Iris almost screamed, then she wanted to strangle herself when Colin and Jon gave her a look.

"No, you will stay put." Batman growled. "The last I need is you two around an underground lab."

"But--"

"No!" Batman shouted, storming to the teleporters, ignoring the four teenagers behind him. He stepped into the platforms and turned back to see the teenagers. "You will stay put."

Superman rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned to the four teenagers in the watchtower. "Don't take this to heart. These are very stressful times." he said gently and walked on the teleporters. "Stay safe, we'll be back in no time"

Batman and Superman were the last to disappear. Superman waved at his son and Batman glared at Robin one last time before he teleported away. The phantom anger was still there even when the four teenagers were alone in the pristine white halls of the watchtower. If the stars weren't moving all around them, it could be read as if time had stopped.

Silence settled between the four. Damian fist tightly held next to him and he was growling under his breath. Colin gently but a hand on his shoulder with a soft smile.

It was Iris who broke the deathly silence. "Geez! Your Dad has no temper." Iris rolled her eyes. "It's just a fire! What makes it so dangerous we can't help?"

Next to her, Robin growled and stepped towards the computer, typing feverishly. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." he answered.

Jon exchanged a look with Colin, silently asking what Damian was up to. Colin just shrugged with an awkward smile.

"Access denied."

Damian's mouth pulled into a smirk, he cracked his knuckles which made a loud smile as he murmured: "lets see about that." Damian started typing again, fast and loud, he got the 'access denied' three more times before Jon stepped forward.

"Damian, what are you doing?" he murmured, leaning forward to see the screen.

"You'll see."

Damian suddenly stopped typing, he raised his hand and slowly hit enter, the computer flared to life once again and this time chanted: "Access Granted."

Iris elbowed Colin in the stomach, apparently harder than she thought because Colin hunched down a little and gave her a glare. "That was... awesome." she murmured with an awkward smile.

Colin forced a smile on his face and tried not to crunch down on his aching stomach. "He does that all the time... Uh... West?" he murmured.

"Iris. I-R-I-S. Iris." She pointed out, running a hand through her short dark red hair. "And that guy over there, is Jon." Iris pointed at Jon with her thumb.

Their eyes rested on the rapidly changing colors on the screen. Damian was very dedicated to his work. "Uh- Well. That's good to know." Colin murmured. "Or else I'd be calling you Kent and West the entire time."

Iris chuckled, he wanted to come up with another string of words to say but she was interrupted as the sound of "access granted" echoed in the room. Iris speeded through to see the files. Colin followed with a shrug.

The smug smile of Damians face was priceless as he turned around. "Tt. Cadmus labs." Damian read out loud. "The league suspects they're engaging in illegal cloning and/or making new bio-engineered species. A potential threat to the powerhouses of the league, all of them. From superman to martian manhunter..."

Iris raised a hand. "I've never heard about it!" she said as a matter of fact.

"I blame that God-father of yours." he said and turned back to the three of them. "This needs thorough investigation."

Damian pulled out his USB drive and walked away from computers to the teleporters without eyeing anyone. This was his mission, not anyone else's.

Suddenly he felt a weight on his shoulder. He glanced back, the hand was Colin's. "Hey, are you going to cadmus?" Colin murmured, gently turning Damian around to face him and hitting him across the chest. "Because if you're going, I'm going."

"I assumed as much." Damian murmured. He eyed Jon and Iris from the corner of his eyes.

The logistic part of his brain won over the prideful part. "We could use more man power." he said, each and every word ripping from throat as if he was explaining a weakness.

Jon exchanged a look with Iris, hesitant at first but then he smiled. "I don't have a good feeling about this." he said and walked over to them. "But I think I need to be there."

Damian's face didn't change but Colin smiled at Jon before the three of them stared at Iris.

She rubbed her elbow, not looking at any of them in the face while taking a few steps back"I don't know." she murmured. "Timelines and everything."

"If you posed a threat to reality, The timeline would have been disrupted the moment you stepped in here. It didn't." Damian reasoned.

Iris rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward smile. "I--uhm..." she stuttered.

"Come on, join the dark side, beautiful lady." Colin said with a playful wink. Iris stunned for a moment before she raised an eyebrow, voice breaking into laughter.

It worked.

And Damian wanted to smack Colin across the face.

===========

The fires in Cadmus was nothing but a minor incident. The mere presence of the famed superboy and the mysterious Kidflash drew media's attention more than the actual fire.

Which was the perfect position Damian needed when he was trying to hack into the laboratories datafiles.

"Tt. A child's room has better security than these computer systems." he murmured, typing as fast as he could on his minicomputer.

Colin leaned his head against the window frame and rolled his eyes. He touched his earpiece gently. "Drag it as much as you can." He said to the other two. "We can use the extra time."

"Copy that!" superboy and Kidflash said at the same time.

"I don't need extra time." Damian growled, the sound of his typing short and loud.

" _Sure_." Colin murmured, dragging the word.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you're underestimating my abilities."

Gently, Robin touched his communicator. "Superboy, Kid flash, come inside. Like Batman predicted this isn't a normal underground lab."

"Ok."

"What? Inside? In--"

With a fast splash of wind that flew Robins cape around, Iris appeared with an unflattering smile. "--Coming."

Jon landed in much more gracefully which made Damian wish, for the first time ever, for superspeed.

Damian growled and turned to Iris and Jon. "This is more than just a lab." he whispered. "This is where they experiment and kidnap meta-humans. We have to investigate thoroughly." Damian tapped on the computer screen, showing the maps of all the 52 sub-levels. "Starting with their secret investments on sub-level 52."

Robin's hand hovered above the keyboard before he yanked the hard drive out. "This is their main quarters." Damian said as a matter of fact. Then his eyes landed on Colin's. "This is _the dark_. This is their main headquarters. Or as they call it N.O.W.H.E.R.E."

Iris blinked and nodded. "What a creative name." she murmured.

Damian rolled her eyes. "Follow me, I know a safe means to go down." he said, running down the hall to a dead end and a metallic two door elevator. Damian pushed everyone in and closed the door behind him.

He plugged in his wrist computer and a holographic screen came up. "Oo, Classic." Iris murmured. "Does it hack?"

"Let him concentrate, Iris." Jon whispered softly.

Damian growled. "Tt. I can reprogram this to take us down." He said as a matter of fact. "But we don't know what's waiting for us downstairs."

The moment the words left his mouth, the elevator started moving downwards.

"Should we call the league?" Colin said immediately. "If they're keeping something this big in 52 levels underground.... They should know."

Iris shrugged. "Meh. Why spoil the fun?" she said.

"We'll call them if necessary... But they're on a mission in the sun right now." Jon pointed out and Colin noded absentmindedly.

The elevator suddenly stopped, blocked in the way. The three of them stared at Robin for an explanation. He didn't give any, he just typed furiously on his hologram. "They know we're here." Robin said matter of factly. "Tt. I'm expecting an army of monsters at this point."

"What sort of monsters?" Iris asked curiously.

Robin shrugged. "Tt. Clones mostly. Giants, gnomes, grey telepathic creatures." he murmured and started typing again.

"Robin?" Jon murmured, his glassy blue eyes fixed at what was behind the door.

"Tt. What?"

"I hate it when you're right." Jon murmured as he slowly held his fists in front of him. "I can see... Some sort of monster hybrids waiting behind the elevator door."

"Wonderful." Colin whispered, the tip of his hands changed and formed two mallets in his hands, ready to strike.

"Brace yourselves. The door will open in three," Robin said loudly and pulled his own batarang.

"Two,"

The door opened slightly and a roar could be heard on the other side.

" _One,_ "

==========

What waited for them were Giant grey creatures looking like Ghouls. In a hallway with soil looking red substance held up by iron structures.

They attacked and the four of them defended.

The battle was legendary in Robin's opinion. Iris was more trolling than actually fighting. Robin used his electrifying disks. Colin had long ago shifted into one of the giants.

All of it spread a smile on Robin's face.

That is, until he felt something collide to his back and the next moment he was hitting the opposite wall.

"Robin!"

Colin shouted and threw away the giant that held him in a death grip.

With a battle Cry, Jon lifted the giant G-Giant and threw it to the ground. The ground broke behind the monster and it sank several floors until it finally stopped on the broken ground of Sub-level 52.

Jon followed it down with smoking red eyes, their short lived battle shook the building but ended in the monster passing out on the last level.

Colin shifted back to his normal humanoid form and put his hand across Robin's shoulder to pull him into his feet. "You alright?" He asked. Robin nodded. He had a gash across his mask, otherwise he seemed fine.

"Superboy..." Robin murmured eyeing the giant hole on the ground and pushing Colin to take him there.

Iris zoomed past them and leaned towards the fall. Colin and Iris exchanged a look behind the giant hole on the ground. "Well that's another fast way to go down." Colin murmured and stared at Robin's mask. "You up for a jump."

Damian shifted a little, trying to stand on his own feet. "Tt. don't drop me." he murmured.

"Yeah, don't drop him." Iris sing-sang. "He's only human!" Iris zoomed down before she got the snarky response she deserved.

Colin rolled his eyes, looking at the blue lightning left from Irises moved with an irritating look.

Colins hand morphed into a hook and Colin hit it against the wall. Robin huffed and hanged on when Colin jumped. The Clay rope slowed down their fall until they landed on their feets few meters away from the other two and an unmoving giant.

In Front of Iris and Jon were two ways, both made with the same red soil and metal. Debris and black boxes were abandoned on the uneven roads.

Iris crossed her arms. "Great, gross hallway or slightly-less-gross hallway." Iris muttered, showing the ways with her hands. Robin straightened and looked at both ways with his eyes narrowed.

Slowly, the debris in the "gross hallway" as Iris dubbed it. Started shaking violently, falling and breaking and blocking their way.

Jon shook his head. Floating away to the end of the second hall. "We don't have much of a choice," he shouted. "There is a hoard of clone monsters waiting down that hall."

Jons head shooted backwards, staring at the way they'd just come from. "And it's coming from behind too."

Robin growled under his breath. "No way to go but forward." he murmured and started running to the end of sublevel 52, making sure not to tumble over the debris and glowing eggs. "It must be something very important that they are willing to go to this length to protect it."

Iris rolled her eyes and zoomed forward, in front of all of them was a closed metal door with "Kr: C-5" written in huge cursive letters.

She put her hand on it with a smile. "Let's see how much I learned from you, Dad." she murmured and closed her eyes. Slowly, her body started to vibrate until she could step inside the compound like it was nothing.

Jon was the first to get to the door, quickly followed by Robin and a gasping Colin. "Did she just--" he trailed off. Wide brown eyes trying to make sense of what he just saw.

The doors opened to reveal a smirking Iris leaning against a computer panel in a dark blue room. The only object other than the computer was a superb green vial with the Symbol of the house of El crafter on it.

"Tada!" she said with a smile. "Now get in because there is a hoard of monsters behind you."

Damian jumped in and slammed the close button the moment his hand reached it. The other two came in safely and the first monster that tried to make his way in, hit the closed door with a sickening crack.

Robin immediately drew out his holo-computer and hacked the door. "Tt. We're safe." he said, looking at Iris and Jon respectively. "For now... and I need to know why Cadmus is acting so secretive. I have to report it to Batman."

Robin aimed to send a message to the Batcave, so that either Batgirl, BlackBat or Signal could hear it and alert Batman.

But the only answer he got was static.

Iris and Jon looked at each other before both of them hit the communicator on their ears. Both of them failed to connect to the outside.

"We're in too deep." Iris said with a sigh.

Jon massaged the sides of his face. "Literally." he murmured. "Mom is going to kill me."

A deadly silence settled as the two of them watched Robin for an answer or a comment. However, Robin was too preoccupied with trying to hack Cadmus's mainframes. They delved into an even deeper silence until Colin's voice broke it.

"Robin, Superboy..." Colin murmured. His voice was low that couldn't be heard with the slightest voice.

The trio turned their head to see him, noticing the dark green tube for the first time since they got there. Robin recognised the tube design immediately. It was the same technology that held potential meta-humans.

This one was different. It was a dark green liquid that blended in with the dark blue room perfectly.

Colin was staring at it with unwavering eyes, his hand hovered above the cravings, feeling every rise and fall and when his hand pulled away--

\-- they could see the sign of the house of El crafted into it.

The same symbol on Jons chest.

Jon's eyes widened and he pushed Iris and Robin out of his way to get to the tube. His mouth slightly fell open as his fingers touched the cravings. "Thats--"

Colin nodded, not offering any words. That was the end of sub-level 52. That was their biggest secret.

Jon gulped and knocked the glass, nothing happened. He took a deep breath. his eyes turned glassy as his advanced vision activated, searching through the dark green liquid to find something-- anything to answer his questions.

Jon gasped and stepped back. "Its a--"

"Clone." Robin finished for him, eyes glued to the data sheet in front of him about project Kr. "Project Kr. A project centered around cloning superman. This one is C-5. The only one who survived the initial testing."

"Tests?" Colin said breathlessly. "What tests."

"They're making weapons to defeat or replace Superman. The idea came from the possibility of Jon's existence. NOWHERE wanted to have a superboy of their own." Robin explained. "Cloned form DNA of superman and forced grown in 10 weeks. This is the only one who survived the testing to perfect their weapon."

Iris leaned in to read the report on Damians holo-computer. "That's messed up." she murmured.

Silence settled between them. Jon pulled a hand through his hair and frantically tried to contact the fortress, the league or his father but as Iris said, they were in too deep.

Jon took a deep breath. "They are making a weapon out of my... Well... _Brother_." Jon murmured the last word like he still hasn't believed it.

Iris bit her lips. "Half-brother at best." she pointed out.

Jon didn't seem to hear any of it. "Another kryptonian..." Jon murmured, lunging in his voice taking all attention in the room.

Based on the photo attached to the file, Robin could see the resemblance between the two in their dark black curls and face. The boy in the glass was sleeping, or passed out, or not even conscious, it was impossible to say.

Jons hand touched the glass, nothing happened. The pod was cold as ice under his warm touch.

"Set him free." Jon ordered with uncharacteristic calmness.

That should have been the first sign that this was a bad idea.

Robin narrowed his eyes, putting his hands back down on the computer desk. "Kent this Isn't--"

"Damian!" Jon interrupted harshly, his cape flying in the air when he suddenly turned around. He held his palm against the S symbol on the compartment that held the clone. "Set him free, I'm not leaving without him."

Robin glared at him, Jon glared back. For once in his life, not backing down from Robin's challenge.

Robin's lenses were unusually tense. "He is an unknown dangerous factor." he reasoned but Jons head was made of steel.

"Free him." Jon demanded. "He's just a _kid_."

He's just a kid.

Robin closed his eyes and huffed. He rubbed the side of his face with a frown. "We'll regret this." he said seriously and wrote the codes in.

Robin turned off his wrist computer and nodded at Jon. Silence settled as three sets of curious eyes landed on the podd, trying to see what happened next.

The green tube shifted with a hiss, opening slightly as the green liquid poured out and a small puddle on the ground. They could see the outline of a _child_ standing in the pod.

Standing.

The door opened completely and they could see his close eyes and striking similarity to Jon.

Suddenly, the clone opened his eyes to reveal lifeless and glassy blue eyes.

With no warning, The clone charged forward, tackling Iris. The clone didn't have a measure of his own speed that caused him to knock Iris out and crash to the opposite wall.

"What the--"

'C-5' jumped up, eyes burning red. It darted between Colin and Jon before he charged towards Colin with a cry.

It was split second decision making that made Colin morph into clay and dodged the attack. The clone flew right through him just to hit Iris across the chest and knocked her out.

"Great." Robin growled and took out his electrifying disks out, staring at Iriss motionless form and the clone that slowly raised to his feet just to attack Colin, again.

"Jon! Get your brother under control!" Colin shouted, this time The clone hit him and broke away a part of his metamorphosis clay with him.

The clay in the clones hand shifted and grew, before the child could get any closer to them, the clay grew around him completely, putting him in place.

Colin grabbed his elbow, leaning against the computer table for support before Robin put Colin's hand around his shoulder to support his friend's weight and keep him standing. "I can control that thing-- _telepathically_." Colin hissed at the child.

Jon kneeled down next to the clone. Nonchalantly checking for injuries. Jon swallowed hard because they looked so much like each other. Same shade of alien blue eyes, same strong chin(even if C still had a baby face) and the same black hair. 'Well, he is your brother' a traitorous part of his brain pointed out. 'And he's been here all of his life while evil scientists experimented on him.'

And the clone's eyes had lost focus somewhere along the way.

"Hey, Hey it's ok." Jon tried to say, cupping the clones face in his hands. "I'll get you to mom, she'll know what to do."

If the clone knew what Jon was talking about, he gave no answer.

Robin rolled his eyes and took out his taser, The clone's eyes shook as it flickered on. "Tt. I'll just take the easy route." Robin murmured.

"I don't think it's--"

Robin glared at Jon, silencing the words that were about to come up. Robin pointed his taser and fired. The wires connected to the clones chest and buzzed.

The clone seemed unfazed.

Robin growled and put it on the highest setting, the clone was still very much comfortable and his eyes were shining with mischief.

Jon saw it, but he was too slow to react.

The clone broke out of the Clay around his body and threw back the wires at Robin. It hit Colin and a horrified scream escaped his mouth. Jon watched with horror as the electricity short circuited and engulfed Robin's body as a whole too.

Robin fell down with a grunt, his muscles still spasming from the high voltage. Colin had visible burn marks where the Disks hit him and his clay was still smoking.

'C-5' stood up, panting loudly and shaking visibly as he turned around to face his last opponent.

Jon closed his eyes and held a hand up, just to keep him far. "You don't want this fight." Jon said softly, slowly turning his helping hands towards the nameless child. "We can help you, C."

C stood for a moment, hesitant. His eyes darted all around the room as if looking for a trap, until it landed on the S-shield on Jons chest and his lips quivered.

Jon touched the symbol with a smile. "Yes." he said, kneeling down to be at eye level with him and hesitantly held his fingers against the red S-shield on the boy's chest. "Im family."

Something shifted in the blue of the boy's eyes and he charged.

But Jon was stronger.

He held him in a lock and never let go. Not even when the clone thrashed around and screamed. Not when he could see Robin trying to stand up and failing. Not when C started to scream painfully.

"We want to help you." Jon whispered in his ear, trying to be hopeful. The clone just wailed louder and Jon was lost on what to do.

He noticed Robin was slowly gaining his strength in his hands, hope started to bloom before the walls shifted and three green lamps came out of its hiding spot. it turned and started glowing green.

And Jon dreaded what that sickening green really meant.

The kryptonite walls turned on and sudden pain emitted from Jon's body. From his insides to the top of his skin burned mercilessly.

C screamed heightened before it ceased to exist. The Clone went limp in his eyes with a whimper. Jon couldn't stay standing against the ache in his lungs and burning on his skin for much longer.

"Kryptonite lamps." Robin murmured, his eyes barely focusing in the hollow green light coming from the walls. He picked up three batarangs and aimed for the green lamps in the room, but neither of them hit the target as he slowly passed out.

Jon grunted in pain and fell down, his muscle started to spasm and his breathing became ragged. Robin didn't have the energy to wonder why The clone wasn't showing the same spasms.

The last thing he heard was the slow hiss of the door as it slowly opened and a man in a white lab coat walked in.

==========

"I see you're awake."

Robin's eyes shut open and he tried to sit up, a cooling sensation spread on his wrists and across his chest, he was strapped down on a medical bed. His hands were held immobile with metal cuffs against the side of the bed.

And he wasn't alone.

A man was above him, staring at his mask with dark blue eyes and burn marks all across his face, a souvenir from countless experiments.

"I am doctor Desmond." the man said with a mocking smirk. "I'm sure you're wondering what's going to happen. Since you're Robin. And just like Batman-- you always stick your nose somewhere you don't belong."

Robin didn't flinch, or move, or turn down the severity of his glare. He also offered no words.

Doctor Desmond tsked and took a step back. His snarky smile fell from his face. "You see, since you are no meta, I would have disposed of you if it wasn't for your grandfather." he said matter of factly.

Robin narrowed his eyes at the doctor, growling under his breath. "How do you know my grandfather?" he said, speaking for the first time and leaving his mouth slightly dry.

Doctor Desmond pulled a pen and started writing down. "Huh! We have had explicit order to turn you to him if we ever get our hands on you for _years_." he said, not once looking up at Robin.

He wanted to roll his eyes. Grandfather didn't want anything to do with him once his mother handed him to his father and seemingly disappeared.

Why would he care now?

"You're bluffing." Robin said confidently, pouring as much venom as he could.

"Uh kid, you'd be surprised." Desmond said with an angry frown. "He's the reason I'm not pulling off your mask right now... What a family reunion that would be."

The sound of Desmond's footsteps echoed in the room until the metal doors closed behind him and shut Damian from the world with a huge question in mind.

Why was his grandfather looking for him?

==========

_You must awaken._

_you must awaken._

_NOW._

Colin opened his eyes a gasp just to find himself in another tube with his hands held above his head.

He shut his eyes again and took a deep breath, he kept it in his lungs until it started to burn and then he let the air out. He repeated it once again-- twice-- three times. Each time holding it for a mere few seconds, trying to stop himself from panicking.

When the racing beat in his chest cooled down, Colin found the courage in himself to open his eyes.

C-5 was staring right at his soul with a questioning look in those inhumane blue eyes.

He was in the same white solar suit from a few minutes (hours?) ago.

Colin kept his face neutral as he tried to shift his arms to clay to set himself free, to his surprise, his powers were blocked.

And C was standing freely, while Colin could see Iris and Jon similarly restrained. Jons cell even had red solar radiation to dull his powers.

But 'C' was standing freely and he had decided to spend that freedom staring at Colin's reactions.

Colin wanted to ask why, in a friendly manner, just to get the kid to talk. Just like how he convinced the new kids at the orphanage to open up.

But Iris beat him to it. "Why are you staring at us!" Iris shouted, pulling against the cuffs holding her wrists above her head. "Why are you staring at us!"

"Iris..." Jon murmured softly. Iris had flames in her eyes when she glared at Jon, silently screaming bloody murder.

"I don't think he was in control of himself."

The clone's eyes shifted and focused on Jons face once again. The clone stepped closer, one foot after another until he could brush his hand on the glass, right above the S-shield on Jons chest. "Superman..?"

"He can talk?" Colin blurted out.

The clone's eyes wiped away from Jon to stare at Colin's. "Yes... He can." he growled.

"That was just unexpected." Colin murmured softly. "Not many people coming out of those green vials can talk."

"There are... Others?" he murmured, voice strained and low. He slowly looked back at Jon. "Are you superman?"

Jon's eyes softened. "No..." he said clearly. "Im Superboy... But I know Superman... He's my dad-- _our Dad_."

'C' fisted his hands. "They call me Superboy. A clone. A Genome. made of DNA acquired from superman. Replace him should he perish, destroy him shall he turn from the light. "

'C' finished his speech confidently, like it was the only thing he ever believed in.

Colin wanted to throw up.

The three of them exchanged a look. Jon wet his lips before his eyes gently stared at C's once again. "To be like superman is a worthy aspiration but it's not impossible for you." Jon said softly.

" _Yeah, when pigs fly."_

"Iris!" Jon snapped.

Iris rolled her eyes. "All I'm saying is I know no Superman kid, except you, in the future," she shouted. "This guy here-- I've never heard _anything_ about him."

"But that's something I can change." Jon stated, his eyes never leaving the clones. "If you come with me, C-5"

He looked away, gently taking a few steps back, ready to flee. That's when the reality settled in because the clone was just a child. "But where will I go?" C murmured, stepping back further. "Cadmus is my home."

"Your 'home' is a test tube." Iris said as a matter of fact.

"Home is somewhere you choose. Believe me I know." Colin murmured. "Something tells me you haven't chosen this place. Have you ever even left Cadmus. Have you ever felt the real sun on your skin?"

"Come with us" Jon pleaded. "We can show you the sun."

"Pretty sure it's after midnight." Iris said with an eyeroll. "But we can show you the moon!"

"We can introduce you to Da--Superman. And you can have a family."

C gasped quietly and looked away. He opened his mouth to talk but bit back his words. When he finally had the courage to talk, the doors hissed open.

Desmond walked in with one G-Giant in toe. He carelessly shrugged off the controllers and passed C to stand in front of the three heroes, getting their attention to himself. "Activate the fifth-process." he demanded the giant.

"What the hell is the fifth process?" Iris cursed as her eyes followed the giant connect three orb down the pods they were trapped in.

"Fifth process." C murmured with horror, touching the side of his face. "No!" he shouted loudly. C backed off, rapidly shaking his head. "You can't do that!" he pleaded.

Desmond turned back to stare at the child. "Go back to your pod." he demanded.

C did not flinch, didn't move, he just stared at the burn marks on Desmond's face.

Desmond narrowed his eyes. "Don't start doubting now." he growled. The G-Gnome on his shoulder hopped off to land on C's shoulders. He immediately stiffened and his eyes turned glassy.

A sly smirk appeared on Desmond's face as he circled the clone-child. "You see, you're not a boy, you're a _weapon_." he whispered in his ears. "And you belong yo cadmus. Now, Get back to your podd."

C lifted his head slightly before he turned away and walked, very slowly, back to sub-level 52.

==========

" _What did you do to him!!"_

Jons shouted echoed in the entire laboratory, every single G-Giant and G-Gnome could hear and sense his distress broadcasted like a radio show.

"Telepathic control." Iris murmured with awe at the same Colin screamed:"Mind control."

"What did you do!!" Jon screamed, struggling fruitlessly against the bonds.

Desmons merely raised his eyes. "Not much. Not as much as I'm going to do to you." he murmured and pressed the button on the control panel, not wasting his time to explain the depths of his evil plan for the heroes.

Two snake-like vials appeared in front of the teenagers. the needles buried themselves in the flesh of the three teenagers' bodies. Electrifying it in an instant.

Iris and Colin screamed in agony. Trying to fight against the needles and failing, only managing to hurt themselves.

Desmond smiled as the tubes started to fill from blood samples. "Get the news pods ready." He ordered the giant with a smile. "The board of Cadmus will be very delighted at what we have here."

Jon shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, barely managing not to scream, but he has to do this.

What does Damian do all the time without powers? He thought to himself. A ray of hope bloomed when he found the solution.

"I know you can hear me." he whispered quietly. The people in the room never saw his lips more. They never heard him. But there was someone who could hear him, not so far away.

"C, I know you're confused." Jon murmured under his breath, trying to stay coherent even through the pain. "I know it's hard for you to leave Cadmus. Go somewhere-- new-- But _you_ need to make this choice... But ask yourself... What would superman do?"

Jon let out a deep breath. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood because now that he had C's attention, he didn't want to scream and make this ten-year-old child panic.

He didn't have to wait for long.

Suddenly, the metal doors snapped out of place. Jon's eyes shut open and he was never this happy to see a child in his life.

Desmond growled. "I said, Go back to your--" but he didn't get the chance to finish as C sent him flying to the wand with a childish backhand.

"Don't tell me what to do!" he shouted angrily, his voice childish and high. C turned to the control and did the most unreasonable thing--

\--shattering it with his bare hands.

The red lamp on Jons cell turned off and so did the power-disruptors on Iris and Colin.

Colin melted down, freeing his hands and melting down to the ground before building back up.

"Finally!" Iris screamed in delight and vibrated her hands out of the bonds and jumped down to ruffle C's hair just as Jon Broke the bonds with a flick of his wrists.

"Thanks C." Colin murmured, rubbing his reformed wrists as they healed back. "I'm sorry we didn't come for you sooner. We have to get you out ASAP."

Jon put a hand on C's shoulder, turning him around just to get a thorough look at his new "brother"s face.

C looked away, trying not to stare at identical blue eyes. "Desmond's work was always the most painful... I-- I couldn't let them do that to you." C murmured. Eyes falling to the ground.

Jon gripped his shoulder tightly and pulled him closer into a hug, breathing in the scent of chemicals in the small boy's hair. C stiffened but eventually melted into the hug. "They won't be able to hurt you ever again, you hear me?" Jon murmured, pulling him closer. "We will protect until the end."

C flinched but closed his eyes. He hugged Jon as much as he could and relished on the first kind touch of his family he ever received.

The scene melted Colin's heart.

"Hate to interrupt your bonding moment..." Iris said with an eyeroll. "But we're still stuck in a madman's lab."

"Da-- Robin." Colin said suddenly and looked at the destroyed entrance. "We have to find him!"

Jon looked up and slowly broke the hug with the clone. His eyes turned glassy as he activated his advanced vision to search for their friend.

"I ran all this floor with my superspeed when you guys were brooding." Iris said. "He isn't here, Jon, Can you search for his heartbeat?"

Jon nodded. "He's not on the higher floors either but I can hear his heartbeat." he whispered. Slowly walking out of the lab.

Iris stretched her hands out and yawned. "Do you know the way out, kid?" she asked.

C crossed his arms. "Don't call me kid--" The clone's eyes suddenly widened and the horror on his face swifted away. "I think I know the way out." he said and jumped, running down the hallway and looking back every step of the way to make sure the three people were following him.

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-"This place will blow!" Iris shouted.** _

_**-"Ow, Ow. Ow." Colin hissed in pain as he grabbed his side. His sides shivered as his hands closed around the small piece of metal and pulled it out. His sides turned to clay before slowly being put back together. "Im fine. I'm fine." he said breathlessly.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Iris west II too much considering I never read one comic that she appeared in. lol.
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE A KUDOS OR LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS.  
> thanks.


	7. Emergency exit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escape from Cadmus is difficult. 
> 
> Keeping the friendship made along the way is even more difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... Look at this... Almost the end. The next chapter is the epilogue.
> 
> ALSO A CHARACTER DEATH IS MENTIONED. 
> 
> Just mentioned.

Robin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He couldn't let go of the numbing feeling in the back of his mind that the new information provided. He could feel the strap over his torso and on his wrists. They were tight and secure, but not Enough that Robin couldn't sneak out of.

He pushed the unnerving information Dr Desmond just gave him away and cleared his mind. One thing was for certain. He couldn't be forced to go back to grandfather.

Not like this anyway.

The family reunion had to wait.

He was strapped to a gurney in a small white room. The pristine white walls were starting to hurt his eyes. The only other object in the room was a double monitor computer that Damian couldn't see clearly from where he was lying.

As it suggested, the people over the illegal sublevels of cadmus labs were mostly scientists. Robin wanted to roll his eyes, his utility belt was gone but the rest of his uniform was intact.

The lock picker was intact.

Robin moved his fingers until a small strand of metal came out of both gloves and started to work on the locks. It clicked open and Robin freed his chest with his newly free hands.

"Idiots." he muttered and jumped off the bed, gently rubbing his sore wrist over the gloves. He Picked up his yellow utility belt and rushed off to the double monitor computer.

Robin connected the wrist computer on his glove to the mainframe. Robin narrowed his eyes when the information flooded his hologram.

The urge to follow Cadmus's founders until he found the one in charge was huge. Robin could feel his hands hovering uselessly over the keyboard. So he decided to go with it.

_Who controls you?_

And a bold "Access Denied!" was all he got.

"Don't disappoint me, you useless piece of metal." Damian murmured and retyped on the keyboard.

Again the same error.

And again.

And again.

Robin growled and gave up. That was most likely classified information... At this point Damian doubted even Desdmond knew whom he was really working for.

What broke him out of his thoughts was the echoing sound of footsteps. Several footsteps.

Robin turned off the wrist computer and drew out his sharpest batarang, eyes narrowed at the door and waiting for the swarm of attackers to come.

==========

"Are you sure this is the way out, kid?" Iris shouted as she zoomed past the two Giants in the hall, knocking them both out. The giants fell down with a loud thud that shook the building.

"DON'T CALL ME KID!" C screamed, running with Colin and Jon in toe. "And I'm certain."

A few feet forward there was a three-way cross. C pointed at their front. "That will take us to the stairs and then up." he said.

Jon stood on spot and closed his eyes, focusing his remaining energy on his super-hearing. He opened his eyes with a quick smile. "We can go that way later." Jon said loudly, pointing at the opposite ways, through the end of the pristine white halls. "I can hear Robin's heartbeat clearly from there."

Jon didn't wait for the rest to follow him as he ran into the pristine white halls. There was only one metallic door at the end of it. Colin and Iris followed. Jon wanted to push the door out of the frame but Colin gently pulled him back.

"Dam-- Robin might be behind it. We can't brute force this out." he said and gently pushed him away. Colin pressed his right hand to the lock. His hand morphed into clay and filled the digital lock, forming around it and trying to physically break in from the inside.

"Robin has robbed off you hasn't he?" Iris asked.

That made Colin smile. "That's what happens when you spend time with someone 24/7." he murmured. His clay hand pulled out and the door opened with a hiss.

Colin pushed the door open and jumped in. The room was mostly empty, just a gourney with straps, a computer and a Robin in an offensive stance, no detectable injuries in his red and green outfit, who seemed ready to batarang all of them down.

Colin's face lit up with a huge smile. "Robin!" he said happily and ran the distance between them to tackle Damian in a hug, locking his arms around his friend before quickly pushing him back, still in arms length. "Man, you gave me a heart attack."

A half of Robin's mouth pulled into a smile. He rolled her eyes and put his batarangs back on his belt. "Don't get sentimental." Robin said mockingly. His eyes landed on Jon and his smile widened. "Good to see you're in one piece."

Then he turned to Iris. "You. Not so much." he murmured under his breath.

Iris rolled her eyes and huffed. "Pleasure." she murmured. "But we have to get out!"

Robin exchanged a look with Jon, mouth pressed to a thin line. He let go of Colin and rushed to the computer mainframe. His fingers typed and typed. "This place is too critical for NOWHERE." he said as a matter of fact. "We have to destroy it."

Irises eyes widened. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Tt. This place has built in self destruction." Damian said as a matter of fact.

Colin's eyes widened. "Damian, No!"

"It gives a one minute evacuation plan." Damian said hurriedly and plugged off the computer.

"Are you crazy! THIS PLACE WILL BLOW!" Iris shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

"That's the plan." Damian said and rolled his eyes, calmly walking out of the room.

"In ONE MINUTE!" Iris shouted, zooming to stand in front of Damian.

"We better get out before the one minute is over," he growled.

Jon huffed angrily and grabbed Cs hand gently, pulling him out of the room. "Don't panic just... Show us the way out, C."

'C' nodded quickly. "That way," he said.

C let them through the halls into the stairs where Iris zoomed up and Jon flew Robin and Colin up to the first floor, while giving Conner a piggy back ride.

The moment Iris bust through the front door, Jon dropped Robin and Colin. Robin looked at the timer on his watch. The countdown was at 10 seconds.

"Hurry!" Robin shouted and ran into the entrance. Iris wanted to zoom past them and/or pick them up to the nearest safezone. The double doors were so close, that meant freedom.

But a row of G-Giants blocked the door. A few others blocked the way they came from, successfully circling the four teenagers and the 10 year-old child.

"That's not good." Iris murmured. The four formed a protective cycle that was around C. Robin's eyes fell on his wrist computer.

3 seconds.

That really wasn't good.

Robin's body tensed up when he saw Colin's eyes also glued to the timer. He felt a wave of coldness on his body when the timer hit 2 seconds.

They couldn't get out of this.

1 second.

At the same time the giants rushed to attack, Colin shifted and moved. His body turned into Clay faster than Damian had ever seen him morph.

The teenagers were quickly taken into a protective sphere of Thick Clay. Robin glanced back at Jon and Iris who seemed equally at shock. The force of the giants never came.

Suddenly the ground shook, violently. The floor under them cracked. Iris lost her balance and fell on the surprisingly soft Clay. Robin could See pieces of debris fall on the clay-sphere.

And he could only wonder if Colin has tested this trick before.

A giant piece of debris fell on the sphere and stabbed through. He could see the sharp pieces of metal and concrete stabbed into the top of the sphere.

And then, everything stopped to leave them in a dead silence. The ground was steady. The roof stopped falling and the agony of the giants outside seemed to stop.

Nothing nothing nothing but silence.

Iris pulled up to her knees and rubbed her head. "Is it over?" she murmured.

Robin took in a sharp breath and touched Colin's sphere. "Colin??" he asked.

No response.

==========

The sphere slowly fell from around them. The destruction of the lab was revealed to them. There was nothing left of Cadmus. Just ruins. The sky was open to them and the full moon lighted the sky.

The clay took a humanoid form and morphed back into Colin Wilkes with his black training suit.

Damian let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He felt like a weight was taken from his shoulders.

Colin's eyes turned glassy and painful as his hands clasped around his side were a sharp debris could be seen. "Ow, Ow, Ow." Colin hissed in pain as he grabbed his side. His sides shivered as his hands closed around the small piece of metal and pulled it out. His sides turned to clay before slowly being put back together. "I'm fine. I'm fine." he said breathlessly.

Next to Robin, Iris took a deep breath. "Good good." she murmured.

"We actually made it out alive." Colin said, looking around at the dead giants and the destroyed building.

Jon pushed his cape aside to reveal the tiny boy who had his hands looped around Jons middle. "Was there ever any doubt?" Jon murmured, pulling his tiny pseudo-brother closer to his side.

Then, Jon's eyes lit with realisation. Jon leaned down to look at C's eyes. Blue eyes met identical blue eyes. "Hey, C, look..." Jon murmured in his ear, pointing at the full moon with the tip of his fingers. "The moon."

The Clone was hesitant at first but then he slowly let go of Jon's body to look at the sky. The sky painted with stars and a mesmerizing full moon.

Robin felt a smile pass his lips at the pure joy on the little clones face and he realised how truly small and naive C was.

A figure approached them from afar, flying towards them and then levitating down. The smile fell from Robin's face as one by one, the justice league members appeared in the sky.

"And Superman! See! We're great at keeping our promises, kid!" Iris cheered and hit the clone's shoulder as hard as she could. She quickly drew her hand back with a painful hiss.

Superman landed on the ground, Batman was moved down with a green lanterns construction.

All around the rouble, all the league members from wonder woman to hawkman circled the four.

C took a gentle step back but hit Jon's body. Jon gently put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him towards superman with a nod.

Superman exchanged a look with Batman from the corner of his eyes. "What is this?" he said calmly.

Jon gently pushed C forward with a smile on his face but he said nothing. C's eyes were scared but he looked at Superman, with shaking hands he fixed the front of his solar suit to reveal the S-shield on his chest.

Superman took a sharp breath and slowly, a frown was set in place. Jons smile dropped, he didn't expect his father to be angry.

"Start talking." Batman growled.

===========

Superman, Batman, WonderWoman and Flash decided to have a small talk of their own away from the clearing of the area. And, as one might expect, didn't allow the proteges near them.

The four teengares kept quiet to themselves, in a small circle of their own. Jon never let go of the small Clone.

Robin noticed when WonderWoman put a hand on Superman's shoulder and offered to fly away for a while. WonderWoman and Superman flew away, and Robin couldn't be happier because an angry superman was the last thing they needed.

But Flash and Batman crossed the distance between them and stood in front of them. Batman took the time to glare at his son before starting to talk. "Cadmus will be dealt with. All 52 levels. But let's make one thing clear--"

"You should have called." Flash interpreted.

"And the end results aside, we're not happy. The league will deal with the consequences."

Batman landed his burning gaze down on the clone, who stiffened immediately. "But first we have to examine him." Batman growled, shooting daggers down C with his eyes.

C gripped Jons Cape tighter and slowly pulled himself back. Trying to hide his face in Jons side. Jons mind threw the stress of the moment out and fully covered him, standing between him and Batman.

"Superboy." Batman said taking a few steps towards the two. "Hand him over."

Jon could feel the little boy slightly stiff behind him. "No." Jon said simply. "I'm not going to let him go."

"We have to... Check him up." Batman offered, with his normal voice this time. "He can be ill from all that kryptonite poisoning."

Damian's grip on his own arms tightened. He looked up at his father with new found determination. "Father," he said, a bit rushed. "He's only Ten."

He's only Ten. He can't be a spy, or a double agent, or much of a threat. On top of it, he didn't deserve the wrath of the justice league.

Batman's attention snapped back at Damian and he almost regretted his words. But Damian stood with courage and met his father's glare with one of his own.

"You hacked justice league computers," Batman started, taking his glare from Robin to glare at the other three. "disobey direct orders and endangered lives, you will _not_ be doing this again."

That didn't make Jon step aside, C was still safely hidden behind him. The poor boy clutching the older kryptonian like his life depended on it.

Iriss face crumpled. "With all due respect, Batman, we also took out an organization that the JL failed to beat a couple of times." Iris said and crossed her arms. "We also got a mini-super out of the hands of one of the most prominent bad-guys."

"That doesn't explain your disobedience." flash said, finally making himself known. "Iris, I know it's hard for you to adjust but your mere presence might cause a paradox."

Iris frowned. "No." she said firmly, shocking Jon, Robin and Colin into silence.

"No?"

"No." Iris repeated. "I can't stay in a shell forever. This is my life. This is our life. And the more I think about it, the more I realise my future is here. My present is here and I'm not going to hide behind curtains."

"Kid flash." Batman growled.

"No!" she said firmly, pointing at Damian and Jon with her finger. "You've been training them for god knows how long. _I've_ been training for god knows how long. You can't cage us! I'm sorry, but we will be doing this again. Not when NOWHERE was just the top of the iceberg."

A proud smile spread across Jons face. "It's simple really, get on board--" Jon said

"--or get out of the way." Colin and Iris said at the same time.

==========

"Demon!" Steph shouted across the batcave. "You're alive!"

Steph ran over until he was a few feet away from Damian, who just materialized from the teleporter of the Batcave. The air was cold and stiff. Damian never knew he'd miss the stone wells of the batcave or the bats hanging upside down.

Duke and Cass followed Steph until they were in front of him too, eyeing him curiously and blocking his way to the showers.

Damian raised an eyebrow at her and stepped into the light. "Bold of you to assume I can die?" Damian said with a sly smirk. He stepped off the teleporting platform and The fade light of the batcave landed on his face. He could see Stephanie and Dukes eyes widen when they actually saw him umharmed.

"Man, Batman was furious when he called us." Duke said and stared at Damian with disbelief. "We thought you're dead or something worse."

Damian shrugged it off. "I don't die that easy, Thomas." he said as a matter of fact.

Cass didn't answer him. She pointed at her side and then pointed at Damian, brown eyes staring at Damian with a question.

He let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, I was injured." he said as a matter of fact but he shrugged it off carelessly.

Slowly Damian's eyes landed on the far end of the batcave and his semi-smile dropped. His father was standing next to Alfred behind the computer. Bruce had his cowl down but the rest of the suit was in place. He was emotionless but Alfred was furious, with his eyebrows knit and his hands in fists.

Damian narrowed his eyes and nodded. He put a hand on Duke and Cass' shoulders. "Go home." he said softly. "Whatever reasons Father called you here was to simply make sure you are safe."

Duke hummed. "It explains the dinner Alfred prepared."

He'd missed dinner with Alfred? Damian was so screwed. He squeezed their shoulders and repeated. "Go home." he said.

Steph took Cassandra and Dukes hand. "C'mon guys!" she said and pulled them out of the batcaves first floor.

Damian let out a deep breath and walked up to his father and Alfred.

Damian felt incredibly small next to the other two but he kept his head high and a batglare set in place. Neither of them spoke, Father and son kept on going on a silent staring contest that escalated more every second.

It was Alfred who broke the deathening silence. "Mind Explaining what happened today master Damian?"

Damian's face didn't change, didn't smoothe or budge, he remained expressionless. "Nothing of the unusual." he explained shortly.

This was going to be a long night.

===========

_four new messages._

_"Hey, Damian, I was wondering if you're actually coming. You were joking back at school right? We're waiting for you at the tower."_

_"Hey, it's Colin, Jon says you never joke, you obviously don't act like yourself around other people do you? Well... I told them you're busy in gotham and that's why you aren't here. I... I picked up a room for you just so you know."_

_"Jon here. Are you even alive? Call me back later."_

_"Hey, Dami. It's Colin again. Batman debriefed us on how this team is going to work. Secretly operating for the league. Isn't that cool? Call me back."_

_no new messages._

Ace rested his head in Damians knees, pouting ever so slightly. Damian smiled hollowly and shook his head. "I know, Ace." he murmured. "I know."

The roof was a good place to think. It was silent except for the chirping of birds and the dance of the wind. It was relaxing for a place like gotham. He could see all the gardens and all the trees. And Ace's presence was just the icing on the cake.

"The roof isn't so safe for Ace."

Damian took a sharp breath and stopped himself on time. His instincts wanted to throw the phone at his attacker, just like how the league thought him to.

It was concerning how much he remembered the league of shadows lately. He wasn't like this but in the past few days he could hear his grandfather's assistants' voice echoing in his mind.

Telling him his stance was wrong.

His grip on the sword was wrong.

His friends were weak.

_He was weak._

Damian looped a hand around his knees. "I know." he told the person standing behind him. "But he wouldn't let go of me, father."

"They sense sadness." Bruce said as a matter of fact, pushing his hands into his pockets.

"Apparently." Damian hummed and gently pet his dog.

He could hear his father coming closer. The roof slightly shifted under his father's weight when he was standing right next to him. "Clark and Lois agreed to take the clone to their house." Bruce said nonchalantly, sitting down next to Damian on the rooftop.

They never looked at each other. Both of them preferring to look at the horizon.

Damian pulled his knees closer, glancing at his father from the sides of his eyes. "I'm aware." he murmured.

Bruce hummed, looking at the Garden under their feet. "If you want to make a group with them you should spend more time with your friends."

"I don't need friends." Damian said, holding his knees tighter.

"And why is that?"

"Friends are a liability." Damian quote automatically, his eyes devoid of any emotion as he says those words.

"I see. I... " Bruce cleared his throat. The right words slipped out of his mind as soon as they came. "I Can think what the league of assassins might have told you about companions and friends." Bruce whispered. "All of which is false."

Damian rolled his eyes. "How would you know?" he said. "From what I've seen you were never keen on having friends either."

"It was foolish of me." Bruce said simply, which got Damian to raise an eyebrow. "I could have used a bit of a hand. And they needed me too, as much as I needed them."

Damian couldn't disagree with that.

"Did you have any friends in the league?"

His father's question took him by surprise. Damian opened his mouth to speak but found out he couldn't. The words failed him.

Damian bit the side of his lips. "Tt. One." Damian breathed out, slowly letting go of his knees. And resting his feet in front of him and taking a deep breath. "We trained together... A Lot."

"What happened."

"I..." Damian bit his tongue and pulled his knees closer, resting his head on his knees. "She was killed..."

"How?"

"One day, She was... Tired... and fell over when our trainer was sparring with her. I attacked the teacher just to keep her safe from the harsh consequences that came after." Damian gulped. "Grandfather didn't like that I've shown weakness... Grandfather believed it was a liability that needed to be dealt with. He ordered mother to punish me and she refused."

"Of course she did." his father murmured, a soft ache in his eyes that Damian couldn't quite place it.

"But... The next day I came back just to see the liability was... Was _dealt with_." he spat bitterly.

For a moment, nothing happened.

The next, Damian felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He slowly, gently lifted his head to meet his fathers dark blue eyes. "I'm sorry." he said. "You shouldn't have experienced that. But I assure you nothing like that will happen to your new friends."

"Not as long as grandfather is one of the people running NOWHERE." Damian whispered.

"Who said that?"

"Desmond."

The hand on Damian's shoulder squeezed gently, firm and reassuring. "The league will handle that. And I assure you, Ra's al Ghul will never get his hands on the titans." he said.

Damian nodded with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair and decided this was the time to slip up. "Desmond... He said something." Damian murmured.

"What did he say?"

"About grandfather."

Bruce's eyes narrowed dangerously, he folded the newspaper and diverted his full attention to Damian. "What did he say?" he said, completely calm.

Damian took a deep breath. "He wanted me alive... Desmond had orders to deliver me to the league of shadows... Alive."

His father's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Interesting." he murmured.

"He also said Grandfather came after me, Years ago. That You refused to give me up and you 'did quite the damage to the league' that they stopped trying."

His father froze on spot.

Damian crossed his arms. "What did he mean, Father?" he asked seriously.

His fathers eyes turned glassy. They moved away from Damians face to the horizon. "Nothing you need to worry about." he said matter of factly.

"Father?" Damian said, barely able to contain the anger. "What do you know?"

He saw his father tense. The hand on his shoulder let go and Damians curiosity started to reach a critical level.

"Do you remember the time you asked if your mother had contacted you and I said she hasn't?"

"Tt. Yes."

"I... Lied. I did receive calls and messages from Talia since he dropped you by." His father confessed.

Damian took a deep breath and tried not to growl, because of course--

"Last time she called, she said she'd found the link to traitor and what they were supposed to do." his father explained. "There is no easy way to say it, Damian. But your grandfather's plan was to murder your mother and take your custody himself."

Damian sucked in a breath, such plans weren't beneath his grandfather but still surprising to hear it being said so bluntly.

"That was the last email I received from her." His father said with a sigh. "And then... It became obvious she can't come after you. She can't take care of you or live freely without the shadow of Ra's Al Ghul."

'If she's even alive.' went unsaid.

"And that's when I started to push you to go to school." Bruce concluded, running a hand through Damians soft hair.

"But that was... Two years ago." Damian murmured. "Haven't you heard anything of her?"

Bruce closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."

So all this time...

Damian couldn't bring it in himself to be angry at his mother. Or his father. A logical part of his brain supported both of their actions.

Ra's Al Ghul was a dangerous force. Both of his parents knew what he was capable of. He couldn't blame them from trying to keep him in the dark.

Without warning, Damian jumped and looped his hands around his fathers neck.

His father's body froze on spot but then Damian just held his father tighter. Bruce eased down and held his son, hugging him back.

==========

"Damian?"

Damian ignored her, he kept on typing his report on the batcomputer and ignored the only other person in the cave.

"Damian?" Steph asked loudly this time, leaning in to see what Damian was doing. "Damian?" she shouted in his ear.

"What?" Damian shouted back, rubbing the ear Steph had just shouted in. "What is it, Brown? Why aren't you with Thomas and Cain?"

Steph frowned at him and crossed her arms. "You were ignoring me. And I have a very important question." she said. Damian noticed she wasn't in her batgirl attire, but in loose worn-out and purple civilian clothing.

Damian rubbed his ear again, a slight ringing still bothering his mind. "That doesn't give you the right to shout in my ear." he said, giving her a batglare of his own.

Steph rolled her eyes. "The teen titans are all over the news! Have you seen the titans tower in Jump city??" she asked.

"Yes, and?"

"Colin, Iris and Jon were there!"

"And?"

"You weren't!"

Damian shook his head and diverted his attention back to the computer, ignoring Stephanie's wide eyes as he started typing again.

"Aren't you a part of them? I asked Batman and he said you were." she murmured. Blocking the screen with her small palm.

"If you're so interested, Brown, why don't you go and join them instead of me." Damian growled, slowly the typos became noticeable as his attention was slowly slipping away from the words.

"No operating outside of Gotham until Batman says so." Steph murmured and rolled her eyes. "But this is so awesome! The first independent teenager superhero team ever! Damian, how do you feel?"

Damian growled. "Cut it out, Brown. why are you suddenly so interested?"

"Well this kid... His name was Tim Drake..." Steph murmured, rubbing his chin. "He kept asking us, me and Duke and Cass, our opinion about this new group... Robin especially... For some reason at lunch." she hummed, her fingers started tapping the table and Damian couldn't help but notice the smile that spread across her face. "He's in our grade. This tall, eyes at the color of the sky after a storm..."

Damian raised an eyebrow, "which is?"

"Beautiful." Steph murmured.

Damian stopped typing and stared at Stephanie's eyes, which was unfocused and dazed with a smile. "He is just a Batman fan..." he said carefully. "Like every other teenaged boy in gotham."

"Uh-hm." she murmured.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "So did he... Annoy you three in any shape or form? You and Cassandra or Duke? Any shape or form?" he murmured. His mind tried to come up with a reason other than 'older brother instincts' to why he didn't like the expression of adoration on Stephanie's face.

Steph was shaken out of her stupor. "No no." she said quickly. "He's been around us for a while. He's a good kid but he's lonely... Cass says he wants to befriend us but doesn't know how and we better not pressure him."

"Good." Damian shortly.

"So?"

"So what?"

Steph screamed in frustration. "Are you a titan or not??"

Damian let out a breathless laugh for a moment just at the angry face on Stephanie. "Fine, I'll humor you." Damian said with a mocking smile. "I am a part of them."

"KNEW IT!" Steph cheered and threw her hands in the air. "YAS!!!"

"Why are you so--"

"Duke owes me a Starbucks!" Steph screamed in delight. Damian shook his head at their childish bets. Steph ran upstairs, her laughter mixed with her light footsteps. "Thanks Damian! Finish your report or whatever! I have a large double chocolate chip frappuccino to get!"

_**Next chapter:** _

_**-Damian cleared his throat. "Colin is over there trying to make sure Iris doesn't spoil any important future detail." Damian stated.** _

_**"Maybe He knows something." Jon murmured, eyeing the place Iris and Colin were playing with the bubbles. "He is so keen on no one finding out the future."** _

_**Damian hummed. "Maybe." he admitted and closed his eyes. He let the sound of the party flow him away like water. "But I trust him, Colin is a great secret keeper."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! How was it? Next chapter is going to be a small epilogue to wrap the story of Damian making friends all over. And then we're moving to Tim's story!
> 
> PLEASE LEAVE A KUDOS OR LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS.  
> thanks.


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